ACTIVATE | REFUGE, the 2021 Social Justice Film Festival is in just two days! Have you gotten your tickets yet? You can check out our program of over 50 genre-bending social justice films, buy tickets, and RSVP for our live panels at socialjusticefilmfestival.org. In this episode of Justice in Motion, SJFI film fellow Eva Bryner sat down with SJFI Advisory Council member and documentary filmmaker Sam Hampton to talk about the judging process for the social justice film festival, as well as advice for aspiring social justice filmmakers. Sam Hampton is a co-founder of Docs In Progress, which is ..read more

Yesterday was Labor Day, and to celebrate and honor the American labor movement and its contributions to the United States, Daniel sat down to talk with two representatives from SAG-AFTRA, the world's largest performer's union, to find out more about labor unions, the work that goes on behind the scenes to ensure working standards and collective bargaining needs are met in the entertainment industry, and union representation in Hollywood. This month's guests are Dee Dee Escobedo (she/her) and Sean F. Taylor (he/him). To learn more about SAG-AFTRA, visit https://www.sagaftra.org ..read more

Monday, August 9th, is National Book Lover's Day, the official holiday to celebrate bibliophiles, reading, and literature. To commemorate, Daniel sits down to talk with Tiffany Douglas, resident book-lover and patient spouse (his words, not ours), to talk about social justice book-to-film adaptations, justice-oriented nuances that can get lost in adaptation, and the continuing impact of classic works of literature on modern storytelling tropes and the way we view ourselves. We hope you enjoy! The stories explored in this episode are Bryan Stevenson's Just Mercy, J.D. Vance's Hillbilly Elegy, a ..read more

Continuing our series of conversations with the SJFI Advisory Council around the question "What is a Social Justice film?" this month on Justice in Motion Daniel talks with close friends of the Institute Rhenda Meiser and Lauren Taubman to discuss film, social justice lenses, and hopeful futures of technology and cooperation in the Middle East. We hope you enjoy ..read more

With the prospects of nation-wide vaccination teasing a better summer than the one we had last year, the question on our minds is when can we go to the movies again? Quite apart from being the best way to beat the sweltering summer heat, seeing a movie in theaters is a treasured communal experience whose emotional ties hearken back to the ancient Greek theatre. For this month's episode of Justice in Motion, we welcome back to the podcast Dr. John Trafton, Seattle University Film Studies professor and author of Movie-Made Los Angeles, to discuss the social importance of going to the cinema, bra ..read more

Today, May the Fourth, is Star Wars Day! Our thanks to the machinations of the marketing genius that came up with that. To commemorate this glorious hybrid holiday of cinema enthusiasm and nerddom, Daniel goes deep on the side of of Star Wars lore and culture that doesn't usually get mentioned: the socially-focused beginnings of the tale that began a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away; and the progression of Disney/Lucasfilm's storytelling approach that has led to the creation of the most polarizing boogeyman we see in today's online culture: the Social Justice Warrior (or SJW). We invite ..read more

In this episode of Justice in Motion we discuss the stories behind told surrounding the recent shootings in Atlanta, Georgia. As part of its recent event celebrating Communities Against Hate, Social Justice Film Institute Executive Director Aurora Martin invited Advisory Council members Vivian Hua, Glenn Morey and Andy Chan to discuss their experiences as AAPI storytellers and their vision for how film – particularly who is in front of and behind the camera – can bear witness and elevate voices for equity and justice. Words matter. The stories and images that are projected into the public have ..read more

There's no more glowing recommendation for a prospective film festival than "they gave me a free breakfast." This is one of the many pearls of wisdom we gleaned in our talk with independent filmmaker and Institute Advisory Council member Michele Noble. Michele directed and produced the short documentary Reclamation: The Rise at Standing Rock, which won the Tulalip Cares Prize at the 2018 Social Justice Film Festival, and we were lucky enough to sit down with her to learn how a filmmaker can put finishing touches on their work and begin to market it to film festivals, as well as how to stay san ..read more

It's 2021! To commemorate the end of a year that opened our eyes to injustice around the world while living in isolation from each other, we decided to bring together some of the members of the inaugural SJFFI Advisory Council! This special episode of Justice in Motion is Part One of a two-part series in which we meet some of our intrepid crew of filmmakers and activists blending art and social change to talk about the joys and challenges of filmmaking, and to ask the question 'What is a social justice film?'  This panel was led by Daniel Swan, with an introduction by Social Justice Film ..read more

In this episode of Justice in Motion, Daniel talks to disability rights activist and small business owner Annie Carl. Annie's journey as a social justice advocate began when, as a lifelong book-lover and bookshop owner in Edmonds, Washington, she discovered that diversity in the disability community didn't get the representation it merited from booksellers. Daniel and Annie covered a lot of ground in this conversation, including topics like the Fries Test for disability representation, tokenism and fetishization of disability in media (you may be more familiar with the term "inspiration porn ..read more