Amie Williams, an award-winning documentary filmmaker, will be at Occidental College to screen her new film, “WE ARE WISCONSIN!”
WHEN & WHERE: September 18th, 7pm in Swam Dumke West
ABOUT THE FILM…
“WE ARE WISCONSIN!” is a feature length documentary film that follows the day-to-day unfolding of public outcry against Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s controversial budget-repair bill, focusing on the human story behind a remarkable popular uprising forged on the floor of the Madison Capitol. The film asks the question “Why should we care about what’s going on in Wisconsin?,” on multiple levels, through an in-depth profile of six leading individuals central to the story: a UW- Madison student leader, a county social worker, a nurse, a high school teacher, a police officer and a union electrician who come out to protest what they see as a direct attack on their livelihood. They all meet inside the capitol over the course of what became an historic eighteen days, February-March, 2011.
The film amplifies why Wisconsin has become ground zero for so many disparate groups, awakening a sleeping giant of collective voices, alarmed and angry at the new hyper-conservative wave of local government sweeping the Midwest. At a time when mass demonstrations have become increasingly rare in America, this film will explore what it takes to spark a social movement. Some are calling what happened in Wisconsin an Egypt-like uprising in American politics, where collective public outrage transforms a nation.
ABOUT AMIE WILLIAMS…
Amie Williams is a remarkable artist. She founded her own film/video production company, BAL MAIDEN FILMS (Gaelic for women who worked in the mines), in 1991, at the dawn of the digital revolution, when the entire landscape of filmmaking was shifting. Taking advantage of these new technologies, Amie has built an innovative, integrated company that strives to tell stories about people and places that are part of this shift in consciousness. From labor unions to African womens micro-finance collectives, AIDS orphans to environmental truckers, BAL MAIDEN FILMS and the new non-profit group she co-founded, GLOBAL GIRL MEDIA, Amie specializes in activist/consciousness-raising videos for non-profits and grassroots groups. Bal Maiden Films client list includes SEIU, UNITEHERE, ILWU, Rotary International, Discovery Channel, PBS, BBC, Canadian TV, Current TV, Al Jazeera English and Kenya Television Nation.
Never content to stay put when there is a rally, protest, election, or uprising to follow, Amie has been excavating stories from Siberia to Soweto, Tokyo to Nairobi, crossing borders, building bridges and pushing boundaries, as well as her art to activate dialogue and debate. Her films include UNCOMMON GROUND and FALLON, NV: DEADLY OASIS, and NO SWEAT (about American Apparel and SweatX two t-shirt manufacturers in downtown Los Angeles).
Amie’s films have won numerous awards, such as the International Documentary Award, a National Endowment for the Arts Media Grant, the SONY/Streisand Award for emerging female filmmakers, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Peace Grant, the A.F.I. Independent Film and Videomakers Award, and a National Arts Council grant to tour Japan to show her work.