Community Cinema is a national civic engagement initiative featuring free monthly screenings of films from the Emmy Award-winning PBS series Independent Lens. Every month in 100+ cities, community members come together to learn, discuss, and get involved in key social issues of our time.
Now Showing > Daisy Bates: First Lady of Little Rock – A look at the life of African American political activist and newspaper publisher Daisy Bates. Find a screening near you >>
To be a mentor, you don't need special skills, just an ability to listen and to offer friendship, guidance and encouragement to a young person.
Check out resources about education reform. Add your profile to the Voices gallery of hundreds of corps members, alumni, and supporters.
Become an agent of positive change in your school and community. Share your story, volunteer, nominate an Upstander for Human Rights.
KCPT’s Community Cinema screening featured the compelling documentary Troop 1500 followed by discussion with a local chapter of the Girl Scouts Beyond Bars program and of course cookies. Troop 1500 follows several young girls in Texas who have monthly Girl Scout meetings in a Gatesville prison with their incarcerated mothers. The film explores both the challenges for these daughters and mothers as well as the positive impact of this unique Troop.
more »
Saturday’s screening of The Interrupters at the Chicago Cultural Center was packed to the gills with 300 people in attendance. The event honored 6 great Chicago women who work as mentors to young people facing violence and hardships in their neighborhoods, helping them to navigate the difficult terrain of the transition to adulthood.
more »
Filmmaker Anne Makepeace traveled to Los Angeles County in December to participate in the Community Cinema screenings in the area. Anne shares her experience with us below.
more »
Humaira Ghilzai was a panelist for the SF Community Cinema screening of Peace Unveiled. Humaira wrote to us recently about the activism of Afghan parliamentarian Simeen Barakzai, who was on her 12th day of an 18-day hunger strike in Afghanistan to protest allegations of election fraud. Barakazai, mother to three small boys, was the first person to use hunger strike as a form of government protest.
more »
I think it’s safe to say that most kids in America grow up on a diet of frozen chicken fingers, processed macaroni and cheese, and soda. My childhood was different in that my parents had met in cooking school and operated a catering business. So, I not only grew up working for the family business, but I was also exposed to a variety of food types. In fact, I’ve been cooking since I was five (my first specialty was an egg over easy).
more »
Take Action
Impact