Framing An Execution: The Media & Mumia Abu-Jamal (2001)

The case of Mumia Abu-Jamal, a journalist on Pennsylvania's death row in connection with the death of a police officer, had become by the late 1990s a global symbol of inequities in the U.S. judicial system. The mainstream media could no longer ignore it, but how would they...

50 min

Consuming Kids: The Commercialization of Childhood (2008)

Consuming Kids throws desperately needed light on the practices of a relentless multi-billion dollar marketing machine that now sells kids and their parents everything from junk food to bogus educational products and the family car.

66 min

Twenty Media Education Foundation Documentaries Are Coming to Films For Action!

Hi all. I'm thrilled to announce a new partnership with the legendary nonprofit film studio, the Media Education Foundation.

Tim Hjersted and Films For Action

What Activists Can Too Easily Forget

Activism today, call it engaged citizenship, ought to have more humility than it often does, and perhaps a bit more compassion and curiosity, too. No matter how great our understanding, we'll always have something valuable to teach and something valuable to learn.

Tim Hjersted

Noam Chomsky Explains the Beauty of Concision

How corporate news inherently supports the status quo and prevents dissident perspectives through 'concision'.

6 min

Constructing Public Opinion: How Politicians & the Media Misrepresent the Public (2001)

The media regularly use public opinion polls in their reporting of important news stories. But how exactly do they report them and to what end? In this insightful and accessible interview, Professor Justin Lewis demonstrates the way in which polling data are themselves used...

32 min

Captive Audience: Advertising Invades the Classroom (2003)

For marketers who wish to reach the lucrative youth market, the relatively uncluttered medium of the school environment represents the final frontier -- access to a captive audience of millions of students. Meanwhile dwindling federal, state, and local funding for education...

45 min

Blood and Oil (2008)

Blood and Oil offers a riveting look at how U.S. efforts to control the global flow of fossil fuels has led to endless war, alliances with authoritarian regimes like Saudi Arabia, and the undermining of democratic movements around the world.

52 min

Advertising & The End of The World (1997)

Advertising & the End of the World features an illustrated presentation by Sut Jhally of the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

47 min

How To Make Communist Propaganda

Ever wonder how I make my videos? Here's a good starting point! – Second Thought

18 min

The Wikipedia Promise (trailer)

Can the world's most widely accessed collection of information be trusted? And if not, is it possible to change it for the better?

2 min

The War on Journalism: The Case of Julian Assange (2020)

Journalists are under attack globally for doing their jobs. Julian Assange is facing a 175 year sentence for publishing if extradited to the United States. The Trump administration has gone from denigrating journalists as 'enemies of the people' to now criminalizing common...

39 min

So This Is What It Looks Like When the Corporate Media Opposes a War

Major American media outlets oppose military aggression... unless the United States is doing it.

Jeff Cohen

The Film Mark Zuckerberg Does Not Want You to See | Johann Hari

“Your attention has been stolen by some big and powerful forces”

16 min

Don’t Look Up – A Problematic Metaphor For Climate Change?

A critical review of Adam McKay’s Don’t Look Up.

42 min

Social Media Addiction - How It Changes Your Brain | Luke Burgis

By definition, mimetic desire means that we're adopting another person's desire as our own, usually without even realizing that we're doing it. Social media has given us millions of mimetic models that we now have to contend with. Some people have gone from having 10 mimetic...

5 min

The Worst Attack Since the Civil War!

"News directors and editors once needed stiff nudges to repeat a president’s words verbatim, not just because it’s embarrassing to take dictation from a politician, but because it was bad business to do it for free. If politicians wanted you to buy the “Axis of Evil” or “the...

3 min

Films for Patrons: Donate $5/Mo and Gain Access to These Great Documentaries

Films For Action hosts the largest collection of free films related to social change online. Started by a few friends in 2006, we're a home-grown media library dedicated to empowering citizens with the knowledge essential to creating a more loving, just, sustainable, and...

Tim Hjersted

The Man Who Knew Too Much

A documentary film about Colin Wallace an intelligence officer who blew the whistle on fake news and was framed for a murder.

69 min

Why Does The Media Love War So Much? | George Monbiot

“They are entirely complicit”

10 min

How The Media Stopped Us Caring About the Planet | George Monbiot

“They allowed this entire shitfest to happen"

10 min

Johnny Harris: A Story of YouTube Propaganda

A story about Johnny Harris, propaganda and misinformation on YouTube. We also very briefly touch upon the notions of "shareholder capitalism" and "stakeholder capitalism" which Harris discusses in his "How China Became So Powerful" before considering what Harris'...

34 min

Envy | ContraPoints

Starting at the surface with celebrity gossip, then spiraling into the inferno of the human psyche. Virgil, get me out of here.

109 min

Honest Government Ads | 5 Year Special!

The "Honest Government Ad" series by The Juice Media just celebrated its 5 year anniversary!

17 min

How We All Became Richard Nixon | Adam Curtis

This short film uses the story of Richard Nixon’s paranoia to explore how a similar outlook has been perpetuated on the larger social scale by the new media age. Skimming through the evolution of the mainstream media via television and newspapers, this short film comments on...

7 min

Can You Trust the Media? | Manufacturing Consent Explained

The term "fake news" is thrown around without much thought, but with more and more people losing faith in the media, honesty in news broadcasting is something we need to consider. In this episode, Second Thought takes a look at whose interests the corporate media serves, and...

14 min

Honest Government Ad | News Corp Bargaining Code

The Australien Government has made an ad about the new Media legislation it just passed, and it's surprisingly honest and informative.

4 min

Vampires, They Exist?!

Vampires reveal their existence to human beings. The media reacts. In the first half, this film examines the reaction of two media outlets as well as the reaction of several college students, captured by a film student conducting man on the street interviews. In the second...

33 min

The Media Created a Monster. Now They Want to Wash Their Hands | George Monbiot

"How did this reality TV star Donald Trump become President of the United States?"

6 min

Censorship and the Future of the Internet

This week's video is about the limits of the first amendment, corporate control of the internet, and what a future non-corporate online world could look like.

11 min

Just the Way You Are

"Growing up I had vague memories of Mister Rogers Neighborhood, but watching his program now as an adult and as a filmmaker I was fascinated by the degree of sophistication and discipline Rogers brought to his show.

15 min

Take Back Your Attention From The Social Media Algorithms

"Take Back Your Attention" is a short compilation with clips from several Rebel Wisdom films, and featuring visuals from the recent Netflix film with Tristan Harris, "The Social Dilemma".

5 min

Generation Like (2014)

Social media gives teens new platforms for self-expression, validation and even potential fame — but at what cost? Today, thanks to the internet, teens are able to connect and engage with their culture, celebrities, movies, brands – in ways never before possible. But is that...

54 min

America's Patriotism to Fascism Pipeline

There have been plenty of videos examining the YouTube far-right radicalization machine, but far fewer looking at the effect of Fox News and conservative talk radio hosts on older generations. This video by Second Thought is an attempt to explain why so many people from our...

18 min

Noam Chomsky: How the Mass Media Manufactures Consent

Summary of Chomsky's analyses on how the corporate media functions. Excerpt from the documentary Manufacturing Consent: Noam Chomsky and the Media (1992). Watch the whole thing here.

9 min

War on Journalism | Bob Woodward & Julian Assange

If Julian Assange goes to prison for revealing government secrets, no journalist is safe—even the famous Washington Post reporter, Bob Woodward, who broke the “Watergate” story uncovering secret crimes of the Nixon administration. To illustrate this point I’ve logged dozens...

10 min

It's Okay to Panic (2020)

"It’s Okay to Panic" is a nostalgic portrait of 62-year-old Professor Szymon Malinowski, Director of the Institute of Geophysics at the University of Warsaw, who worries that climate change may cause human civilisation to collapse in the coming decades. A career educator...

59 min

Capitalism And Monopolies: How Five Companies Control All US Media

You're probably aware that Disney owns Marvel and Lucasfilm, but do you really know how consolidated the American media landscape is? In this episode of Second Thought, we're looking at how just five mega-corporations control the entirety of US media.

11 min

6 Reasons so Many Spiritual People Have Been Fooled by Qanon

At a time when paramilitary units snatch nonviolent protesters from the streets of big American cities and when even Fox News has finally begun to apply scrutiny on the occupant of the White House, seeing much of the New Age scene convert into the latest constituency for...

Martin Winiecki

Film School Africa (trailer)

Katie Taylor, a Hollywood casting director, leaves her career behind in order to teach filmmaking to the youth of an impoverished South African community. Originally intending solely to equip them with employment opportunities, she quickly discovers the therapeutic impact on...

2 min

Free Films For Action - Summer 2020 Highlights

In this round-up, you'll find the links to watch 19 documentaries we wanted to highlight this summer.

Films For Action

Native Americans Are Being Killed by Police at a Higher Rate Than Any Other Group

SUQUAMISH TRIBE DESCENDANT JEANETTA RILEY, A 34-YEAR-OLD MOTHER OF FOUR, LAY FACEDOWN ON A SANDPOINT, IDAHO, STREET. One minute earlier, three police officers had arrived, summoned by staff at a nearby hospital. Her husband had sought help there because Riley—homeless...

Stephanie Woodard

Out of Omaha (trailer)

OUT OF OMAHA is an award-winning, intimate portrait of twin brothers Darcell and Darrell Trotter, young black men coming of age in the divided city of Omaha, Nebraska. Directed by Clay Tweel and Exec Produced by J. Cole.

3 min

United States of Distraction: Fighting The Fake News Invasion (2020)

United States of Distraction chronicles critical media literacy and faculty experts, students, and media makers who provide contextual analysis for understanding the current rise of the so-called “fake news” phenomenon.

63 min

Project Censored The Movie: Ending The Reign of Junk Food News (2013)

"Project Censored The Movie: Ending the Reign of Junk Food News" takes an in-depth look at what is wrong with the news media in the U.S. today and highlights the work of 40-year veteran media democracy organization Project Censored and their commitment to media literacy...

63 min

Don’t Fall for the Myth of the “Outside Agitator” in Racial Justice Protests

Whenever mass protests of any kind kick off, defenders of the status quo immediately accuse protesters as being duped by “outside agitators.” Don’t fall for it — the lie of the outside agitator is designed to weaken protests and downplay our widespread anger at injustice.

Glenn Houlihan

'The Condor and the Eagle' Takes Flight

From the tar sands of Alberta, Canada, to the oil fields of Texas, to the Ecuadorian Amazon, The Condor & the Eagle tells the story of the collective struggle of the Indigenous peoples of North and South America in their fight to preserve their communities and to protect the...

Linda Etchart

Herman and Chomsky's Propaganda Model of News: An In-Depth Explanation

This 2-part video series offers a basic explanation of Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky's Propaganda Model. In their 1988 book, Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media, they outline 5 filters that critique “the political economy of the mass media," namely...

20 min

The Resurgence of Popular Left Media

The American media landscape can be pretty depressing for those with leftist sensibilities, but it's better than it was five years ago! Over the last two decades, a surge of support for leftist thought has culminated in a vibrant new batch of leftist media. From podcasts to...

17 min

"Bernie Blackout" Film Director, Pat McGee

"Bernie Blackout" Director Pat McGee Interview. Thanks to Pat McGee! - Matt Orfalea

57 min

Introducing the Wire International - A Response to Media Oligarchy

Counteracting corporate media consolidation, the Progressive International has launched the Wire, to disseminate critical perspectives around the world.

Michael Galant

Misadventures in Corporate Media | Jeff Cohen Interview

Misadventures in Corporate Media | Jeff Cohen Interview Had fun speaking with Jeff Cohen about the 5 media filters "Manufacturing Consent" and his own misadventures in cable news. Jeff wrote the book “Cable News Confidential” about his misadventures in Corporate Media. He...

72 min

BERNIE BLACKOUT | The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (trailer)

Proud to be a producer on this epic new documentary, "Bernie Blackout" on Vice. Premieres 5/13 at 8pm. Check it out! - Matt Orfalea

2 min

The Art of Exploiting a Pandemic: From Propaganda to Profit

Throughout the U.S., institutions that have no real interest in public health are exploiting the ongoing pandemic to benefit their public image and their bottom line. We must recognize and combat these efforts in order to fight the pandemic, directing resources to where...

Mike Pappas

Solidarity Amid Pandemic! All Cultures of Resistance Films Now Free for Viewing From Your Home

Dear friends, as coronavirus continues to spread across the globe and whole countries go into lockdown, we need solidarity and creative resistance now more than ever. At Cultures of Resistance Films, we’re joining an effort started by film festivals to make art free and...

Iara Lee

How Do You Escape an Echo Chamber? | Charles Eisenstein

Especially for young people who have grown up in the echo chamber world of social media, how do you deprogram from that and open yourself up to truth?

5 min

The Great Hack (trailer)

They took your data. Then they took control. The Great Hack uncovers the dark world of data exploitation through the compelling personal journeys of players on different sides of the explosive Cambridge Analytica/Facebook data scandal.

3 min

A Vote Against Bernie Sanders Is a Vote for the End of Human Civilization

Frightening commentary has emerged among liberals committing to a protest-vote against both Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden. Proponents argue that, in some undescribed way, their protest-vote will send to these front-runners the “signal” that they are not entitled to our...

Ariän El-Taher

Bernie Sanders and the Establishment Red Scare Meltdown

Here is the major difference between those attacking Sanders and Bernie Sanders: Bernie Sanders has consistently opposed U.S. hegemony. That’s why they attack him. These people don’t care about human rights unless it fits their agenda.

10 min

How Presidential Debates Frame Issues to Support Moderate Candidates

A FAIR study of the democratic presidential debates clearly shows that questions for progressive candidates such as Sanders and Warren were always framed critically, while those for moderate candidates were neutral.

13 min

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