PicMo Monthly Reel: October 2020

We’re now less than a week away from the election, and we’re sure you’re keeping busy ensuring that we maintain our country’s democracy! So, we’re keeping this month’s email short and focused, highlighting some of our recent impact campaigns below.

If you haven’t yet, check out our last month’s newsletter for ways to get out the vote.

Best, Team PicMo

Educators & Activists Receive Free Civic Engagement Resources and Kits Ahead of the Broadcast Premiere of City So Real

National Geographic’s City So Real is the new 5-part documentary series from filmmaker Steve James that tells the story of the historical 2019 city mayoral race in Chicago from the different viewpoints of Chicago community members and highlights issues such as police violence, inequality, segregation, and urban development. As we enter one of the most weighty and charged election seasons in our history, Picture Motion teamed up with National Geographic to launch a national digital impact campaign around the film’s broadcast release today, October 29th! To address and confront the issues presented in the series we engaged key influencers to join our tweet-a-long. Educators and students across the country participated in an exclusive and free screening program through our virtual screening room and received a free discussion guide to be integrated into their classrooms 2 weeks ahead of the premiere. The impact campaign also provided civically active organizations with a kit to take action in their local and federal government elections and to gain audience support for the release of the series.

The Antidote: What The World Needs Now is What These People Do Every Day

In direct response to the trying times we’re living in, The Antidote weaves nine stories of everyday people intentionally leveraging the resources within themselves and within their communities to lift others up and give them a chance at a better life. Through the film’s impact campaign we are focusing on driving a national discussion about the role of kindness and the power of community in a democratic society. Our team is organizing 30 high impact screenings through the Picture Motion screening room—offering VOD and live screening options, chat functions, calls to action, and more for organizations to connect their work with this incredible film. On Thursday, October 22nd, VolunteerMatch, the largest digital volunteering match network, hosted a two-day screening window that culminated in a live Q&A. VolunteerMatch engaged their national audience to share ideas and make plans to #BeTheAntidote in their own communities.

5 Days of Digital Citizenship with A Thousand Cuts

A Thousand Cuts follows celebrated journalist Maria Ressa as she speaks truth to power and defends democracy against disinformation, the rise of authoritarianism, and an increasingly dangerous virtual world. Journalist or not, the most powerful form of civic engagement anyone can practice in this moment is digital citizenship: being a reliable source of information and a responsible user online. In honor of Digital Citizen Week (Oct 19-23), we celebrated Maria’s courage and mobilized audiences around a 5-day crash course in digital citizenship. Sharing key resources from organizations like MediaWise paired with powerful moments from Maria’s story, we highlighted the tenets of digital citizenship including digital security, digital literacy, and digital justice. See our recaps by following the film on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.

📸 PicMo Team Member Snapshot

Meet Meg Vandervort! Meg is our Senior Director and Head of Impact Events based in LA leading Picture Motion’s social impact experiences and events team which focuses on creating meaningful strategy and interactive activations.

What brought you to PicMo: I grew up in New Jersey, but I was actually born in South Korea and adopted at eight months old with my triplet sisters. After graduating college I pursued a career in marketing within the digital publishing and advertising industry for almost eight years in New York. I’ve always had a love and extreme interest in documentary and its role in fueling a movement and making a difference in people’s lives, so it was a natural fit when I learned of an opportunity to come work for Picture Motion a little over two years ago.

Campaigns you are currently working on: I have recently worked on some absolutely amazing and important projects curating unconventional conversations for Netflix’s Athlete A, fighting for our public lands for Patagonia’s Public Trust, and recognizing the incredible civil engagement coming out of Chicago for National Geographic’s City So Real.

Your favorite recent film: Time on Amazon Prime. You have to watch it and then immediately watch this post-screening conversation! It’s too good.

Your favorite recipe: I’m obsessed with perfecting this Paleo banana bread recipe I got from Nyssa’s Kitchen. You’d honestly never know it’s gluten and dairy-free 🙂 PRO TIP — make sure to mix all the wet ingredients first and then add in the dry ones for better consistency.

Say hello! vandervort@picturemotion.com

Follow @NatGeoChannel and @NatGeoDocs on Twitter to engage with us for our City So Real premiere tweet-a-long.
Host a screening of Birddog Nation in these crucial moments before the election.
Sign up to get all the materials you need to host a virtual screening and conversation of Athlete A!
Apply for the Black TV & Film Collective Producers Fellowship by December 1st! This fellowship will award six Black producers with a $25K production grant, production support, and critical career mentorship.
Volunteer to text bank through When We All Vote to make an impact on potential voters in the last few days before the election!

1,524 people joined 12 nationwide screenings of The Antidote.
500 Vote So Real Kits have been sent out for the City So Real impact campaign
5 Days of Digital Citizenship for A Thousand Cuts
87 virtual community screenings & conversations took place around Purple
75 classrooms and communities registered to participate in a City So Real virtual educator program ahead of the series’ broadcast premiere
172 community screenings of Public Trust were hosted nationwide
4,400 students, educators, and firefighters were reached through a virtual screening event of Rebuilding Paradise, in honor of Fire Prevention Week earlier this month
1 PicMo campaign is a finalist for a 2020 Shorty Social Good Award – check out the powerful impact campaign for My Beautiful Stutter