As the resistance to the reformster movement has grown, it has slowly developed its own video wing.
There have been highlights already. The film Building the Machine (now available for free on youtube) is a slickly produced piece from folks who are not necessarily fans of public schools, but who share public education advocates' distrust of corporate and government forced reformy programs.
Standardized is a great look at the role of standardized testing in the reformster movement. You can buy a copy of that; I've handing mine off to anybody who will watch it.
Defies Measurement, a documentary by Shannon Puckett, is also available to watch for free on line. I've reviewed it on this blog; it's a masterful blending of the larger issues of reform with the specific example of one school's struggle. You should watch it.
I am waiting for my copy of Education, Inc by filmmaker Brian Malone; once I've seen it, I'll have a full review here.
(Just to be transparent-- while I know and respect many of the people in these films, I am not in any of them. My transformation from blogger to talking head has not yet occurred).
The film I want to talk to you about today is still in the pipeline-- Corporatized:The Real Story about the Education Takeover. The film is being produced by two film-makers-- Jack Paar and Ron Halpern-- with a background in the business. Paar's wife is a teacher, and a rally in Washington that she attended piqued his interest. Here's their kickstarter reel:
The film is still working on raising funds, and they have a fairly large chunk of change in mind, but the film looks like it has its heart in the right place. If you are interested in helping, stop over to their kickstarter page and make a contribution. I mean, blogs and words are nice, but for reaching the general public, pictures that move and talk are far more powerful, and we can use all the help we can get putting out the word. Like some critics of documentaries, I doubt that documentaries change already-made-up minds-- but I think they can definitely influence minds that haven't been made up yet. As much time as we spend on these issues, I still think there's a huge chunk of the population that just doesn't know, and films like this can help people finally understand what is going on. So spread the word and make a contribution.
We must reach others than ourselves! We cant just support filmmakers like Jack Paar and Bill Baykan and his film "The Public School Wars" with FB likes and shares. We have to pony up and contribute dollars.
ReplyDeleteThank you all so much for supporting our Kickstarter campaign for the film “Corporatized”. Unfortunately, we didn’t reach our projected goal and with Kickstarter when you don’t make your goal you don’t collect any of the contributions.
ReplyDeleteWe believe “Corporatized”, will be an important film that tells the world about the attack on public education; so it is with renewed vigor that we are taking another run at funding this film.
We have crunched the numbers and eliminated the costs associated with distributing the film. We have launched our new campaign on https://www.gofundme.com/856q545g and our goal is to raise $75,000 so that we can tell the stories of teachers and students and shine a light on the threats to public education.
It is our hope that you still believe in this project and are willing to support us on https://www.gofundme.com/856q545g.
Small donations are welcome, $5, $10, $15. Everything helps. You can also donate anonymously. Please donate here and share this link https://www.gofundme.com/856q545g
A $25.00 donation guarantees you a DVD of the movie. You will receive the DVD once it is available to the public.
We are trying to tell this important story but we can’t do it without your help. Thank you very much for your time and your generosity.
Sincerely,
Jack Paar
Director/Producer
BusyBoy Productions
www.busyboyproductions.com
jack@busyboyproductions.com