About

Our Story

Films For Action is a library for people who want to change the world.

Our mission is to empower citizens with the knowledge and perspectives essential to creating a more compassionate, egalitarian, regenerative, and democratic society.

Films For Action was founded in 2006 by a few friends in Lawrence, Kansas, after realizing how essential healthy media is to a healthy democracy. (Fun fact: This insight came from watching The Corporation!)

Over the last 18 years, we've curated over 1,000 free documentaries, 5,000 videos, and 4,000 articles spanning almost every topic related to changing the world.

During this time we've been able to reach over 70 million people - not by owning a TV network or spending truckloads of cash on advertising, but because millions of awesome people keep sharing 'films for action' with their friends on social media - in particular, our 800,000 supporters on Facebook.

One of the best things is, our library is 99% free, ad-free, and 100% supported by our patron supporters. We don't accept any government or corporate funding.

To thank our $5/mo patron subscribers, we partner with filmmakers to provide access to over 50 patron-exclusive documentaries. Slowly curated over the last 6 years, we're proud of the paradigm-shifting knowledge the collection now contains.

Want to get involved? Become a member and add videos directly to our library. We promote the best submissions to our fans.

If you have any questions or would like to collaborate, volunteer, offer feedback, or suggest a film, contact us here.

You can also sign up for our Newsletter to get occasional updates in your inbox.

Let’s be the media!

Cheers,
Tim Hjersted

Quick Start Guide

Explore

To start browsing, interact with the Browse button to filter content by type and topics such as food, sustainability, economics, solutions, or big ideas.

On the library page, you can then sort your selections by most viewed, top-rated, or newest first.

Selections stack, so you can combine these options to view Top-Rated Documentaries about Economics, for example.

Save and Continue Watching

Members can save content for viewing later (My List) and track videos they've recently viewed (Continue Watching), both accessible from the homepage (scroll down).

Contribute

Add videos to our library! We accept videos, trailers and full documentaries. You can also add articles, either written by you or from any source that allows Creative Commons republishing. Content just needs to be related to one of our 34 library topics, from activism to war & peace. Half of our best content was added by members.

Connect

Have a question, criticism, or suggestion? Get in touch.

Sign up for our irregular newsletter. Our Patreon supporters also get occasional email updates. We post the most often on Facebook.

Support

Want to support us and watch some great films in the process? Our $5/month Subscribers get access to over 50 patron-exclusive documentaries.

Project Staff

Current

Tim Hjersted - Director. Co-Founder. Website Developer. Writer. | Lawrence, KS.

Past

Eli Dragen - Website Developer. Co-Founder. | Lawrence, KS.
Andrew Butler - UK Editor. | Bristol, UK.
Mason Umholtz - Art Direction / User Experience. Co-Founder. | San Francisco, CA.
Matthew Toplikar - Editor & Local Event Organizer. Co-Founder. | Albuquerque, NM.
Sara Wilder - Site Redesign (2019) | Lawrence, KS

Pay-Per-View (TVOD)

Films For Action offers a complementary alternative to transactional VOD services by Vimeo, Youtube, iTunes, and Amazon.

If your film was made to encourage positive social change, Films For Action is one of the best places to sell your film.

Patron Films (SVOD)

Films For Action hosts a mini-subscription service that currently offers over 50 highly-curated films to Patron supporters donating $5 per month. Become a Patron here. If you're a filmmaker or distributor and would be interested in adding your film(s) to our Patron Films library, please contact us to learn more about our licensing model.

Recommended Features

Films For Action's Vision for the Future

Cancel the Apocalypse: Here Are 41 Documentaries to Help Unlock the Good Ending

Films For Action University: a Map for Navigating the Transition From Empire to Earth Community

Does Films For Action Have Bias? - a Statement About Neutrality and Our Values

The Top 100 Documentaries We Can Use to Change the World

Wall of Films! - 500 Activist Documentaries on 1 Page

93 Documentaries to Expand Your Consciousness

Films For Action: How We Plan to Help Catalyze a Global Paradigm Shift

90 Inspiring and Visionary Films That Will Change How You See the World in Profound Ways

Recommended Media | Our Fungi Knowledge Network

And many more…

Praise for FFA

"Such important content being shared here. Films for Action is the Netflix for a maturing culture." - Rob Cruz

"I’m blown away by the diversity and importance of all that you offer. I’ll be sharing your site with friends and family and may subscribe. Thank you SO much for your efforts to get these important ideas and perspectives out into the world. Sowing good seeds…" - Libby Hopkins

"I have shared your website and films with many colleagues and college teacher organizations. You are to be commended for your dedication to so many causes and initiatives. You are a national resource for all of the right reasons." - Ned Eckhardt

"Never doubt the impact of a film or documentary, and by extension the work FFA does. A top top site of all time in my opinion. A sincere thank you. If more people watched the films here we'd live in a different world." - Nich Roberts

"You are on the right side of history in a way that is intelligent, informative, and empowering. You post an excellent variety of high quality, thoughtful content. Bravo! In solidarity!" - Daniel Vitkus

"I'm thrilled to have discovered your site! The work you and your organization are doing is so important." - Anna Kilcullen, librarian

"You’re the best thing going on FB!" - Caroline Carrie Humiston Earhart

"You guys are the creme de la creme among activist journalists. You have created a global community of like minded people who up till a few years ago lived in isolation, and felt there was no hope for our world. We now have a forum where we feel free to express, watch and read things that are really inspiring. This in itself is such an empowering, imaginative act.. There will always be disgruntled critics of our views. Some of them as troubled about the state of things as anyone else. We can embrace them too." - Sushma Sagar

"Films for Action is outstanding! Thanks so much for creating this incredible tool!" - Elisa Beck

"I love how different people from all over the world are coming here to watch amazing films, write and discuss. Greetings from Lithuania!" - Danny Crowe

"Films for Action has made me more informed and more effective in my activism. I don't think I could live without it." - Terry Knepp

"Thanks for this website, I can't believe I only just found it. It's a great treasure!!! Kind regards from the Netherlands" - Ellis

"I have been following FFA for a while now and it has been the single best source for mind expanding information I can find. I often am working when I browse, so being able to listen (and occasionally watch) a film is an excellent way for me to keep expanding during my busy day. I am fairly entrenched in the new story (while still keeping one foot (and one eye) in the old corporate story) and I find that your content is always either topical or on the cutting edge of the various movements going on out there. It helps me keep in touch with what I know and learn about those causes and struggles of which I am yet not aware. I just made a small donation. Sorry it is not more. Keep up the good work." - Chris Dietrich

"Hey I really appreciate your site! I put my new climate change documentary up yesterday and I am getting tons of views suddenly ("tons" by my standards at least). It's a wonderful website and it means so much for progressive filmmakers to have a way to present their work to the right audience. So thank you! And I'll make a little contribution too. Peace and solidarity." - Jake Freydont-Attie

"I just wanted to thank you from the bottom of my heart for the content you provide, the access to reliable media sources that truly tell the real story, and for continuing to remind me and others that it is us who have the power to change the world for the better. Just a few minutes of looking at people's comments drives me too easily to anger and/or a stiff drink, and yet your replies are always informed, professional and inspiring. You guys have the patience of saints... just without all the dogma and martyrdom bullshit. So thank you! You are important. Keep it up. xx Peace and love and light and good stuff." - Ray Gunn Matthews

"I've been a follower of your website and its various contents for about a year now, and want to tell you that the knowledge I've gained and continue to gain from this is immense. It's amazing to see that there are already solutions for so many of our current problems, and so many inspiring people working towards a better world." - Sascha Boden, Germany

"Love you and your posts. You are the real revolutionaries." - Doruk Doğrular

Our Strategy

Films For Action is building a people-powered media library for changing the world.

In the past, we relied on the corporate media to tell our stories and represent us and our movements. We relied on them to be the voice of planetary and human concerns, and in that mission, they have failed, year after year.

Traditionally, protests were used to raise awareness of an issue that society, the government, or the media was ignoring — it was a way for ordinary people to reach the ears of a corporate media that would not listen or tell our stories unless we staged a ruckus. But over time, even well-organized protests frequently failed to generate the media exposure they deserved.

Observing this, our strategy is to sidestep our dependence on the corporate media altogether by doing their job ourselves.

Films For Action is about reclaiming the power of the media and bringing it under the people’s control. We create our own media and tell our own stories, and we use social media to share and broadcast our messages out to millions of people. So long as the internet remains free, we can do it ourselves — from creation to distribution, we can make the old corporate media giants obsolete.

Films For Action is one node in a vast web of interconnected and allied independent media voices. Our library serves as a clearinghouse for thousands of voices, perspectives, filmmakers and writers who are creating media for a better world.

Our job is to help amplify that media via our website and social media, and millions of people help us by resharing what we share and adding content directly to our library.

Our site today is 100% ad-free and 100% member supported via our Patreon campaign and Subscribers, which currently supports 1 full-time staff member.

It's a small ship, but we manage to accomplish a lot, thanks to our supporters around the world!

Films For Action is a beautiful example of people-powered media in action.

Our Vision

We imagine a world that's deeply participatory, more decentralized, less hierarchical, and ecologically healing in ways that the present system cannot offer. Our fire burns for a vision of a global paradigm based on trust and cooperation rather than fear and competition.

We believe that the primary nexus of focus for our efforts will come from the transformation of cities - culturally, ecologically, and economically. We envision a future where cities have become not just sustainable, but ecologically regenerative, just and thriving places to live for both humans and the rest of nature. What is inspiring to us is knowing that the solutions necessary to make this happen already exist. Whether in Lawrence, Kansas, where Films For Action got started; in Curitiba, Brazil; or in Samso, Sweden - transformational solutions already exist. They are in development all over the world, by millions of people and thousands of organizations.

This movement has no name - no "ism" to tie us all together. There is no single manifesto that articulates our vision in a single language. In its place, we have a thousand different ways of articulating this vision, spoken in the words of every language. However, the vision we share of a better future is common. We just need to connect the dots.

We support the Defend the Sacred manifesto. We support the 10 principles of Radical Ecological Democracy. We support the Earth Charter, the Next System Project, the Leap Manifesto, Transition Towns, The Zeitgeist Movement, Bioneers, Ecocities, the philosophy behind permaculture, solarpunk, non-violent communication, and many more like-minded expressions of what we believe represents a common-shared vision of the more beautiful world our hearts know is possible.

This idea that "I am because you are" - that "your happiness is my happiness" - this is the guiding principle of love, of Ubuntu that is what keeps our feet moving and our hearts in action. We are all one human family in relationship with each other and the rest of the community of life on Earth. We seek power with, not power over.

We celebrate the diversity of peaceful cultures that exist across the globe while recognizing our underlying unity. We stand against the homogenization of the world in all its various forms - this toxic belief in the 'one right way,' which has been responsible for all of the colonialism and conquest and subjugation we have seen in the past.

We believe that the old way should not be replaced with a new best way (which would be a repeat of the old way) - but rather 10,000 new and ancient ways of living. There is no one solution to the world's problems. There are 10,000 solutions, 10,000 ways of life - and we need them all.

But do you know what we need most of all? We need you. We need people who have come alive, people who are pursuing their passions and sharing their gifts, people who are dreaming of a better world and putting their dreams into action.

They say many hands make light work, and we need all of us helping our 'movement of movements' in whatever way feels right for each other. We need both a diversity of tactics and a diversity of efforts. We need people challenging the old and building the new, in all the different ways this is possible. The more we can see this and support each other and see how our efforts complement each other, the stronger we'll be.

Want to Get Involved?

Visit our Get Involved page for several ways to contribute!

Knowledge Wants To Be Free

Like millions of others in the Creative Commons movement, we believe knowledge should be free to flow and self-replicate.

We believe decentralized information replication across the internet strengthens our collective knowledge networks, like healthy fungi networks distribute information under the soil and protect whole forests above.

That's why we publish all our original works by ourselves or members under a Creative Commons 4.0 license, while a majority of our library is sourced from like-minded filmmakers, writers, and media groups that support the same spirit.

Hat tip to Common Dreams, Democracy Now!, Waging Nonviolence, Yes! Magazine, Open Democracy, Resilience, Sustainable Human, Share The World's Resources, The Conversation, Guerilla Translation, The Economics of Happiness, and many, many more!

This ethos is also why all our TVOD and SVOD partnerships with filmmakers are always non-exclusive. We want these films to be seen by as many people as possible, so the more places people can watch them, the better! We're also rooting for the success of other activist film initiatives like ours (see above for a few examples) because we see their success as our success.

The business mindset of competition and win-lose thinking (especially among non-for-profit and mission-focused initiatives) is part of the old paradigm that we need to move away from.

Bring on the age of cooperation and win/win thinking, we say! It's time.

“Independent media is dangerous because it allows people to speak for themselves. And when you hear someone speaking from their own experience - whether it's a Palestinian child or an Israeli grandmother or an uncle in Afghanistan or a refugee in the Calais refugee camp - it changes you. It breaks the sound barrier. It challenges the stereotypes and the caricatures that fuel the hate groups. You may not agree with what you hear - I mean, how often do we even agree with our family members? - but you begin to understand where they're coming from. That understanding is the beginning of peace. I really do think that the media can be the greatest force for peace on Earth. Instead, all too often, it is wielded as a weapon of war. We have to take the media back.” - Amy Goodman, Place to B at COP21

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