Heather Booth: Changing the World

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Heather Booth: Changing the World

A film by Lilly Rivlin

US | 2016 | 62 minutes | Color/BW | DVD | Order No. 17119 |

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SYNOPSIS

Renowned organizer and activist Heather Booth began her remarkable career at the height of the Civil Rights movement. Through her life and work, this inspiring film explores many of the pivotal moments in progressive movements that altered our history over the last fifty years, from her involvement with Fannie Lou Hamer and the Freedom Summer Project, to her founding of the JANE Underground in 1964, to her personal relationships with respected leaders such as Julian Bond and Senator Elizabeth Warren. Featuring interviews from close friends, clients, political colleagues and current Midwest Academy students, HEATHER BOOTH: CHANGING THE WORLD explores Heather’s legacy in progressive politics and organizing.

At a time when many are wondering how to make their voices heard, when civil and women's rights are under attack, Lilly Rivlin’s acclaimed documentary is an empowering look at how social change happens.

PRESS

"Heather Booth has had a lifetime commitment to social justice organizing which she does superbly. If there is a difficult job to do, call Heather!"

Julian Bond Activist, former Chairman of the NAACP

"When somebody says to you, You can’t get anything done in Washington, I don’t know why you try’…Just say, Thank you Heather."

Senator Elizabeth Warren

"The movie's a call to action…watching and listening will give you much needed courage… There is not an uninteresting minute in all of the 60."

James van Maanen TrustMovies

"Booth, 71, is one of the nation’s most influential organizers for progressive causes. Inside almost every liberal drive over the past five decades - for fair pay, equal justice, abortion rights, workers’ rights, voter rights, civil rights, immigration rights, child care - you will find Booth."

The Huffington Post

"Using on-camera interviews, archival footage, and photographs—filmmaker Lilly Rivlin shows how the eminent community organizer and activist, now in her 70s, participated in nearly every major progressive movement in America from the mid-60s onward."

The Chicago Reader

"Booth is very much a real deal fighter for social justice. Viewers will leave the film even more inspired to work for change."

BeyondChron

"If you've never heard of Heather Booth, you are not alone. But once you see this film, you'll never forget her name."

Seattle Refined

"Is exactly the kind of sophisticated and inspiring story we need in these troubling times. Go see this film…a remarkable documentary."

LA Review of Books

SCREENING HIGHLIGHTS AND AWARDS

Denver Film Festival
Boston Jewish Film Festival
San Francisco Jewish Film Festival
Sarasota Film Festival
Through Women’s Eyes Film Festival
San Diego Jewish Film Festival
Global Peace Film Festival
Seattle Film Festival
FIWOM – Korean Women’s Film Festival
Golden Door International Film Festival
Reel Women's Film Festival
JAAM Festival
DC Labor Fest
LA Jewish Film Festival

ABOUT FILMMAKER(S)

Lilly Rivlin

Award-winning filmmaker, writer and political activist Lilly Rivlin lives in New York City. Rivlin was born in Jerusalem and immigrated to the United States with her family in 1945. She did her graduate degree in Political Science at U of C, Berkeley. Before focusing on documentaries, she was a journalist, and foundation consultant on the Middle East and women.

Most recently Rivlin was selected as the 2013-14 recipient of the annual Miller Distinguished Jewish Woman Filmmaker Award.The ‘personal is political’ is expressed in the documentaries she produced, directed and wrote: her latest is ESTHER BRONER: A WEAVE OF WOMEN,( (2013) and before that the award winning film, GRACE PALEY: COLLECTED SHORTS, (2010); CAN YOU HEAR ME? ISRAELI AND PALESTINIAN WOMEN FIGHT FOR PEACE (2006); GIMME A KISS (2000); MIRIAM'S DAUGHTERS NOW, aired on PBS and Israel TV (1986); THE TRIBE, CUNY TV (1983).

She contributed to such works as EXPULSION AND MEMORY (1995); Full Circle, a film about women’s role in kibbutzim (1995); IF NOT NOW WHEN? (1988); PILLARS OF FIRE, Israel TV’s 18-part series on the history of Zionism (1983); THE JEWS - a series commissioned by David Puttnam and Sandy Lieberson (1970-72).

Ms. Rivlin's articles were published in Newsweek, MS Magazine, The Washington Post, Lear’s and US Magazine. Other publications include Welcome to Israel, with Gila Gevirtz, (2000); Which Lilith? : Feminist Writers Recreate the World's First Woman, co-edited with Enid Dame and Henny Wenkart (1998); concept and photographs for When Will the Fighting Stop? A Child’s View of Jerusalem (1990).
(3/14)

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