Screen&Discuss Events

The mission of Screen&Discuss events is to inspire new thinking and action among diverse audiences. Screen&Discuss events are organized by individuals, communities, and organizations with support from Community Supported Film.

See below for upcoming events, examples of previous events and for event organizing tools and resources.

Learn how you can organize and host your own Screen&Discuss event.

Recent Events:

Browse Events by Projects:

• Recordings and Excerpts from Previous Events
• New Immigrant and Refugee Visions (NIRV) Events
• Owning Our Future (OOF): Haitian Perspectives in Film Events
• The Fruit of Our Labor (TFOL): Afghan Perspectives in Film Events
• Other CSFilm Events and Activities

Images from Previous Events:

Select films by country or topics:

1. US: New Immigrant and Refugee Visions (NIRV) – films by and about US immigrants

NIRV events inspire conversation and action among diverse audiences about the immigrant experience in the United States and the resistance to immigrants in some communities.

• NIRV films
• NIRV Screen&Discuss Organizing Guide and Resources: A step by step guide to planning and hosting an event, including outreach emails, press releases, flyers, graphics, photos, discussion guide, action toolkit and more.

NIRV Screen&Discuss Topics:

• Immigrant contributions;
• Refugees in America;
• Immigrant women and families;
• Acculturation and assimilation by immigrants and refugees;
• Faith among immigrants and freedom from persecution for refugees;
• Immigration policy;
• Immigrants at work;
• Immigrant origins: Africa, Asia, the Caribbean;

One Page Overview of all NIRV Topics

2. Haiti: Owning Our Future (OOF) – Haitian Perspectives in Film

OOF events open up discussion about Haiti’s geo-political history, man-made and natural disasters, and what outsiders generally do not hear and see about Haitian-lead economic and social development.

• OOF films
• OOF Screen&Discuss Organizing Guide and Materials: A step by step guide to planning an event, including program flyers, photos and more.

OOF Screen&Discuss Topics:

• Import and Trade: Importing Disaster, Milking Local Capacity, and Threading the Needle.
• Natural disasters and locally-led recovery initiatives: Owned and Occupied, Threading the Needle
• Local ownership of the development process: Ghetto Green, Ghetto Clean; Owned and Occupied
• Disability rights: Brave the World
• Transformative power of local culture: Out of the Rubble, Crafting the Next Generation
• Gender equality and women’s empowerment: Shifting Gears
• Unemployment and Job development: Shifting Gears, Crafting the Next Generation, Banking on My Child, Threading the Needle, Importing Disaster
• Cooperative farming and business development, community development: Milking Local Capacity, Ghetto Green, Ghetto Clean
• Banking system and financial exploitation: Banking on My Child

3. Afghanistan: The Fruit of Our Labor (TFOL) – Afghan Perspectives in Film

TFOL events stimulate discussion about the needs and issues of Afghans beyond the relentless battlefront coverage of western media. Many audience members realize while watching the films that it is the first time they are hearing from Afghans directly and witnessing their work and daily lives.

• TFOL films
• TFOL Screen&Discuss Event Organizing Guide and Materials: A step by step guide to planning an event, including press release, flyers, photos, program and more.

TFOL Screen&Discuss Topics:

• Man-made disasters, impact of war: ‘L’ is for Light, ‘D’ is for Darkness; Knocking on Times Door; Bearing the Weight; Death to the Camera
• Local ownership of the development process: ‘L’ is for Light, ‘D’ is for Darkness, Hands of Health, Knocking on Times Door, Water Ways;
• Lack of local ownership: Death to the Camera
• Disability rights: Bearing the Weight
• Gender equality and women’s empowerment: ‘L’ is for Light, ‘D’ is for Darkness, Hands of Health, The Road Above, Bearing the Weight, Beyond Fatigue, Treasure Trove, Death to the Camera
• Unemployment and Job development: Searching for a Path, The Road Above, Bearing the Weight, Treasure Trove, Death to the Camera
• Cooperative farming and business development, community development: Water Ways
• Banking system and financial exploitation: Searching for a Path
• Education: ‘L’ is for Light, ‘D’ is for Darkness, Knocking on Times Door, Beyond Fatigue
• Health care: Hands of Health
• Drug addiction: The Road Above
• Water rights and drought: Water Ways
• The Aid Industry: Death to the Camera

4. Crosscutting Topics

Organize your Screen&Discuss around crosscutting topics explored from the experience and perspective of the different countries and peoples.  Possible topics include community development, job development, disability issues, gender, culture, education and more.

5. The Messenger is the Message – Transforming News and Views through Local Perspectives

Core to the mission of CSFilm, this presentation presents a selection of films from the Afghan and Haitian-made collections in comparison to reports on similar topics by foreign media. Michael Sheridan, CSFilm’s founder and director, provides detailed analysis of how information about the other is still predominantly produced by a top down, externally directed, self-interested news system.

CSFilm believes that social stability and economic development depend on a well-informed citizenry. Global citizens can not make responsible decisions about political and developmental interventions around the world if they only understand the situations from the outsider’s perspective. 

Above is a TEDx recording of this presentation.  Presentations are best followed by discussion, using break-out groups if the audience is large.

Event Costs

When collaborating with organizations or educational institutions we request that they or their local library purchase a DVD for the institutional price of $250, which includes a public performance license. If the event is private or the DVD is for home use, the recommended price is $25. If filmmakers, subjects and/or CSFilm presenter are requested to participate virtually or in person (which we highly recommend!), we ask for a $200 stipend per participant plus travel expenses.

Funding and Partnership: Many host institutions have partnered with other local organizations to share the costs of including the filmmakers in the events. Partnering with local government or civic organizations (e.g. League of Women Voters, Rotary, faith-based) has also helped to draw an audience which reflects the diversity of opinions about immigrants and immigration.

CSFilm’s primary mission is to get these films seen and discussed as widely as possible. We appreciate your understanding, however, that CSFilm’s filmmaking and public engagement work is underfunded. In all cases it is up to you to determine what you or your organization can afford. CSFilm does not want funding to be an impediment to achieving this goal.