We Are One: A Global Film Festival is a free 10-day online festival, exclusively on YouTube, born out of the idea that the film community can come together in times of crises – both in celebration of films and in support by providing much needed relief for COVID-19 efforts.
And She Could Be Next is a 2 part documentary about women of colour involved in the American political landscape, made by a team of women filmmakers of colour. The first half aired last night on Youtube as part of the We Are One Global Film Festival and is available on Youtube for 48 hours.
I think we can all agree it’s been a tough and heavy weekend, in what feels like a tough and heavy year already. It’s times like this that it is difficult to know where to turn, who to listen to and what to believe in. When I discovered And She Could Be Next last night, it felt like the perfect tonic to this difficult weekend. It follows multiple women of colour as they engage with the American political system, organise and aim to be the change we want in the world.
Whether it’s Stacey Abrams, Rashida Tlaib or 19 year old (19!) Bushra Amiwala, these women are all making literal history in a world that so typically shuts people who look or sound like them out. As a privileged middle-class white woman living in Greater London, I could not be further apart from these women yet I found myself crying and cheering throughout their failures and triumphs. I found myself feeling more passionate and revitalised than I have in months and beyond inspired to see the impact that one voice can have.
As mentioned by one of the speakers in a livestreamed Q&A after the YouTube premiere, ‘What you call fire, others will call anger or emotional’. To me, these women are fire and their sparks will ignite many more to seek out and change an unfair landscape.
Change will come. Change is coming. It will take time, and there will be more losses than wins. But you know what, it’s also infectious. I hope like me, after watching this film you feel inspired to delve in to your local political field, to seek out information, activists and get involved. No matter what your political stance, we should all stand for more honest and transparent political discourse, and these women push for that.
Both parts of the documentary will be airing in the states on PBS later this month. There is currently no information for any further UK distribution however the team behind the doc have said ‘if we can show that people are interested globally we have a better case when we look for distribution.’ So, I implore you, please seek out Part 1 on Youtube before it disappears. Talk about it, tweet about it.
You can find more information on the documentary, where it may be streaming near you and how to get involved via their website: https://www.andshecouldbenext.com/
Ex film teacher and frequent couch potato. I try and see at least one new release a week, but I’ve somehow got to 30 without having seen The Godfather?
