We are a group of concerned
citizens in your neighborhood who are trying to make a difference in the
defense of justice and pursuit of peace. We present &social justice documentary films every Friday
night, along with facilitated open community discussion on a wide range of topics,
and open to the public.
Our purpose is to gather, educate, inspire, connect, and
commit to peace and justice.
To be notified of upcoming films, join our email list .
Please follow
us on Facebook
THE MEANINGFUL MOVIES PROJECT /
MEANINGFUL MOVIES NETWORK
1. CONTACT:
Rick Turner
The Meaningful Movies Project
Phone: 206-450-5998
To sign up for our email event announcements, go .
Our emailings are non-invasive
- usually one schedule of upcoming films and events emailed sent each
week, ...and sometimes a mid-week event reminder. Occasionally, there is
something important enough that we just can't help sending it out, ...but
we try to keep these to a bare minimum.
Our list is very confidential
- we hate spam as much as anyone.
If you request to be added, and don't
get our emailings within a week or so, you may want to check your settings
on your spam-blocker to allow our announcements through (emailings come
or ); emails from the url's @bridgings.org and @meaningfulmovies.org are safe.
And feel free to contact us anytime.
2. THE MEANINGFUL MOVIES PROJECT:
...Building Positive
THE MEANINGFUL MOVIES PROJECT is a non-profit organization that
helps communities and groups organize, educate and advocate using the power of
social justice documentary film and discussion to build positive and meaningful
community.& It is an organizing arm of
the MEANINGFUL MOVIES NETWORK (see
What We Do:
We advocate for
public discussion and critical debate in an environment where everyone is
free to speak
We empower
citizens to gather, educate, inspire, connect, and commit to effective, non-violent
solutions in building a more pea
We support
building meaningful & resilient community.
We encourage and
assist communities and organizations in their efforts to become more aware
of and critically analyze local, domestic and international social
Our Model:
Our events are community-based and community-sponsored
using social justice documentary film and facilitated community discussion.
We work for the common good of our own
communities, as well as the Meaningful Movies Network community as a whole.
All events are
open to the public, for donations only, so
that they remain available to everyone regardless of financial ability, and without
stigma.& Open donations are accepted. All
donations collected from community attendees are used solely to cover
operational expenses, including space rental, film purchases & screening
rights, equipment maintenance, snacks, and other event-related costs.& &Suggested donations& are also acceptable, if
clearly stated as such.
All participation is community-volunteer based.&
The intent is that Meaningful Movies be
self-supporting and sustainable.&
A primary part of every event is the opportunity
for community members to engage in some form of meaningful dialog with one
To be successful, ownership of these events must
be assumed by members of the community.&
Permission is secured for all copyrighted feature
films screened.& To be truly sustainable,
we need to view our efforts holistically.&
This necessarily includes the efforts of those we depend upon.&
Our events offer a forum for other social
justice organizations to use to present their campaigns.
All events embrace the principles of peace, justice
and non-violence, in action as well as speech.
We are not religiously or politically
affiliated.
While we offer assistance to any
social justice group using film as an organizing or educational tool, the model
we advocate most strongly for, and have found most
successful, is:
One that focuses on the benefits of
building community, and recognizes that all other benefits ultimately or
One that offers events open to all,
with no limitations on access, and maintains itself through donations from
One that strongly encourages open
dialog in an environment where al
One that supports independent
filmmakers as true partners in these events, and acknowledges that our
sustainability is inexorably linked with theirs.
We can make positive,
meaningful change in the world. &It comes
about simply by connecting one person to one person at a time.& We quickly discover that we are far more
similar in our core beliefs than we are different. &Film coupled with meaningful conversation is a
subtle, yet subversive way of recognizing these similarities, rebuilding a
storytelling tradition, fostering a vital community dialog and allowing true
democracy to unfold.
THE MEANINGFUL MOVIES PROJECT is
dedicated to achieving these ends.&
To find out what films are currently scheduled, go to:
Visit us on Facebook:
To see what we're shown in the past, go to:
To sign up for our weekly events email
list, please contact us at:
info (at) meaningfulmovies.org&
Please Come
MEANINGFUL MOVIES NETWORK:
THE MEANINGFUL MOVIES NETWORK is a collective of organizations that
collaborate and support one another in their efforts to use film and discussion
as an ongoing community building tool.& Its
central organizing arm is the Meaningful Movies Project.
The Meaningful Movies Network currently consists of a growing
number of organizations in the Greater Seattle metropolitan area.& Our goal is to establish this concept
throughout the Puget Sound Region, and see it spread into the rest of the Pacific
Northwest and beyond.
MEANINGFUL MOVIES LOCATIONS:
CURRENT MEANINGFUL
MOVIES LOCATIONS:
Beacon Hill (Seattle, WA):
BEACON HILL MEANINGFUL MOVIES
Garden House, 2336 15th Ave. S.,
Seattle, WA& 98144.&
Films + Discussion on the 3rd
Friday of each month.
More information:
Bellevue, WA:
MEANINGFUL MOVIES ON THE EASTSIDE
St. Margaret's Episcopal Church,&4228 Factoria Blvd SE, Bellevue 98006.
Films + Discussion on the 3rd Tuesday of each month.
More information:
Renton, WA.
SUSTAINABLE MEANINGFUL MOVIES
Luther's Table,&419 South 2nd Street, Renton, WA 98057 &
Films + Discussion on the 4th
Tuesday of each month.
More information:
Issaquah, WA.
MEANINGFUL MOVIES OF ISSAQUAH
Blakey Hall, 2550 NE Park Drive, Issaquah, WA 98029
Films + Discussion on the 4th Wednesday of each month
Kirkland, WA:
MEANINGFUL MOVIES in KIRKLAND
Northlake Unitarian Universalist
Church, 308 4th Ave S., Kirkland, WA&
Films + Discussion on the 3rd
Friday of each month.
More info:
Greenwood (Seattle, WA)
GREENWOOD MEANINGFUL MOVIES
Greenwood Senior Center, 525 N 85th
St, Seattle, WA& 98103.
Films + Discussion Quarterly, with
occasional special screenings.
More information:
Wallingford (Seattle, WA):
WALLINGFORD MEANINGFUL
5019 Keystone Place N., Seattle,
WA& 98103 (Keystone Church).&
Films + Discussion every Friday
More information:
Wedgwood (Seattle, WA):
WEDGWOOD MEANINGFUL MOVIES
Our Lady of the Lake Church, 8900
35th Ave NE, Seattle, WA 98115
Films + Discussion on the 2nd
Friday of each month.
More information:
West Seattle (Seattle, WA)
WEST SEATTLE MEANINGFUL MOVIES
The New Highpoint Community Center
Neighborhood House, 6400 Sylvan Way SW, Seattle, WA 98104
Films + Discussion on the 1st
Saturday of each month.
More information:
Woodinville, WA
WOODINVILLE MEANINGFUL MOVIES
Northshore UCC, th Ave NE,
Woodinville, WA& 98072.
Films + Discussion on the 2nd
Friday of each month.
More information:
Poulsbo, WA / Suquamish, WA
FREE RANGE FILMS + DISCUSSION
Alternating between: Ground Zero
Center: 16159 Clear Creek Rd, Poulsbo 98370, and Suquamish United Church of
Christ: 18732 Division Ave, Suquamish 98392.&
Films + Discussion
scheduled seasonally
More information:
4. HOW THE MEANINGFUL MOVIES PROJECT CAN HELP BOTH ESTABLISHED GROUPS AND THOSE
JUST BEGINNING:
Provide Advice on
Starting A Film/Discussion Group
We can help provide a structured
path to successfully implementing a Meaningful Movies group.& With a broad overview and understanding of
all that&s involved, you can decide how this might best meet your needs, what
specific form it might take, the effort and resources required and how this
might change as you evolve.& This can be
a lot more work than it appears, and we might be able to help avoid a few pitfalls.
Provide Ongoing
Support To Established Film/Discussion Groups
The intent of Meaningful Movies as
a network is to mutually support one another to make this easier and more
rewarding for all of us.& The Meaningful
Movies Project acts in the capacity of an administrator for the network.& The resources lie within the members of the
Coordinate Between
We help as the connecting link
between various neighborhood Meaningful Movies groups.& A new website and web-based communication
system is currently under development. &
Help With Getting The Word Out
MMP can serve as a central location
for promoting our events, to the general media as well as to one another.& Our developing web-based events calendar will
be broadcast widely.
Coordinate Joint Projects & Film
We occasionally organize joint
projects, both for the economy of scale to reduce costs and minimize individual
work effort.& We also occasionally
coordinate around efforts that are of common interest and for which we feel we
can make a significant joint impact.
Help You In Your Selections Of Films &
In contract to the few other
organized community cinema concepts available, Meaningful Movies encourages
each community to select films and topics based upon their own community&s
goals and interests rather than from a preset and limited selection.& We realize this involves more time and
effort, but we may be able to help guide this process.
Assist You In Learning How To Acquire
Screening Rights For Films
Access to screening rights may be
one of the more complicated and time consuming process required for Meaningful
Movies.& We are here to work with you,
advise and teach you how to navigate this.&
We also encourage network members to work together to make this an
easier and more effective process.
Provide Equipment Access & Technical
MMP maintains a limited amount of
quality projection and sound equipment for use by network members.& Donations when possible to support this are
accepted.& The intent is to make loaned
equipment available until you find another permanent source or have grown to the
point that you can purchase your own equipment.&
We also provide training on this equipment.
Coordinate Workshops On A Variety Of Topics
On an ongoing basis, we help organize
workshops on topics the network expresses interest in.
Support The Efforts
Of Other Non-Film Based Community Organizations:
We assist other social justice
groups with using film and film focused discussion as both an educational and
an organizing tool.&
We help connect community organizations
with local film/discussion groups, to serve as resources for one another.
On occasion, we may be able to
provide equipment and technical support.
We Maintain A Free
Documentary Film Lending Library and Make It Available To the Community:
We have more than 1400 film titles
on a wide range of social justice issues.&
These are available for loan on a personal basis to anyone in the
community for free.& DVD&s are checked
out at the Friday Night at the Meaningful Movies venue in Wallingford, and returned
at the same location the following week.&
Donations are requested to support the film library for new purchases
and DVD replacements.
DVD&s are also available for loan to
network organizations to review for possible screening selections.&
library is maintained as a personal film library.& None of the films come with screening rights,
and are for personal use only.
We encourage individuals to
organize potlucks for home screenings with their neighbors and friends, and to
discuss critical issues in small groups.&
We consider these &living room screenings& to be as important as our main
event screenings.
Check it out at:
We Also Offer Our Original Venue As A Hands-On
Field Lab.
We offer our own venue, Friday Night
at the Meaningful Movies in Wallingford as a laboratory for skills training and
for experimenting with new formats, facilitation techniques, and operations. &
We also occasionally offer this
venue to filmmakers to test their films on audiences while in development or
prior to final release.& Many of our
attendees, while not formally trained in film, have seen scores of documentary
films and participated in critical discussion over the years.& This provides a unique test venue for
audience response and critique of new films in development.
5. CURRENT PROJECTS:
We are expanding
actively seeding new film/discussion groups.
reaching out & forming networks with other organizations operating under a
similar model, across the region and the nation.
We are developing a &Meaningful Movies Handbook&:
This will be a Step-By-Step
Resource Guide for those who wish to start and/or maintain a film/discussion
group in their community.& It will
include information on:
Background /history
Setting up a film group
Setting up a film evening
Why film? Why discussion?
Your budget
Selecting a venue
Equipment and Technophobia
Frequency and schedule
Support activities
Selecting films
Copyright issues and purchasing
Researching the topic and support
Promotion and getting the word out
Your film library
Setting up for snacks and food
Guest speakers and organizations
Facilitation
Outreach, joint projects and supporting
Film festivals
Guerrilla Screenings
We are developing a searchable data base for our film library:
This will allow searches by Topic,
Title, Director, Date and other attributes.
We are also working on a program
that will catalog film libraries of other organizations in the region, and
incorporate all into a single common database.
We are organizing workshops and forums:
previously covered:
Film/Discussion Facilitation &
General Techniques
Film/Discussion Facilitation &
Techniques and Problem Solving
Social Media (One) - Facebook for
Film/Discussion Groups
Marketing Your Film Events -
&Getting the Word Out&
Topics anticipated:
Finding films, Acquiring
Screening Rights, Copyright & Legal Issues
Technophobia:
The Ins & Outs of Equipment and setup
Graphic Design,
Flyers & Posters, Emails, Newsletters and Web Presence
Social Media (Two)
& Beyond Facebook
Facilitation &
Behavioral Management, Troubleshooting and Non-violent Communication
Film Finances
Screenings
requested by network members
Eventually, we
will be providing on-line training.
We will be organizing inter-neighborhood social justice film festivals.
We have already begun joint efforts
to coordinate screenings between venues.&
We are planning our first Neighborhood Homegrown Film Festival & a
coordinated effort with other venues within the network to implement a formal
film festival, but with each of the films selected and shown by separate
communities, on topics relevant to that community.& The intent is to provide a flow of diversity
throughout the region from one venue to another, learning from one another and
extending our community connections.& The
culmination of the festival at the end of the last day of films will be a large
multi-community potluck and discussion.
We are developing a network website
This will include a comprehensive newsletter,
and a commonly shared social networking campaign.& It will offer not only opportunities for
individual presence for each network member, but will be a hub for resources,
group organizing, communication, joint promotion and outreach. &
6. THE ORIGINS: FRIDAY NIGHT AT THE MEANINGFUL MOVIES, AND THE MEANINGFUL
MOVIES PROJECT:
FRIDAY NIGHT AT THE MEANINGFUL MOVIES:
Friday Night at the Meaningful Movies started in early 2003 as a
project of Wallingford Neighbors for Peace and Justice (WNFP&J), a member
of The S.N.O.W. Coalition (Sound Non-violent Opponents of War) who formed in
2002 to prevent our further military escalation in Iraq.&
Friday Night at the Meaningful Movies
continues today to successfully show social justice documentaries and
facilitate open community discussions on a weekly basis on a wide array of
social justice topics in the Wallingford neighborhood of Seattle.& In 2013, they formed the Meaningful Movies
Project as a separate non-profit entity to support groups wanting to organize
similar efforts (see below and elsewhere in this document).
While WNFP&J was a large
organization, it was a small handful of us who, at the suggestion of a
visionary woman in the group, began educating ourselves using documentary films.
&At the end of a series of 6 films, our
group had grown to over 40 and people were clamoring to meet & talk following
the films & about the evening&s topic, and about how these films connected to
current events and to their lives, families and their own community.& When it was announced that the series was
over, many of us rose up in protest to continue this new found source of
community building.& And thus started
&Friday Night at the Meaningful Movies&, a weekly event that has, as of this
printing, continued for nearly 12 years & over 500 evenings of film and
discussion.
Topics range from war & peace
to sustainable agriculture & food security, from nuclear abolition to
women&s or immigrants& rights or the economy.&
The range is broad with the single thread that all relate to social
justice in some form.& We strive to offer
a place to come together to discuss all sides of these issues.& We embrace differing opinions and work toward
consensus.
We often, as part of our mission,
invite organizations and notable persons working specifically in an area related
to the film to join us.& This serves 2
primary purposes: 1) it provides additional depth of information, often relating
locally to our community and wi 2) it offers a platform
for organizations and community members to serve as resources for one another:& Organizations offer a way for attendees to
get meaningfully involved right away s while offering
organizations not only an opportunity to get their message out, but also potential
access to new members to help with their campaigns.
Our format varies widely depending
upon topic, speakers, integrated activities and actions, and the energy level
of the attendees.& Generally, we start
with an informal time fo we then introduce and describe
the upcoming evening, state our principles, and show the film.& Following the film we open the floor for
attendees to briefly announce events in our immediate community, a short break
with a few snacks, and then returning for a community discussion. The
discussion is often a large facilitated circle discussion (sometimes with
50-75), or it might involve break-out groups or some other format.& This is a place very purposely created to
allow everyone a voice in a safe, supportive environment.
The intent is to have everyone
benefit from the input from the group, to broaden our knowledge base through a
shared common intelligence, and to realize that we are stronger and more
resilient as a community in the face of dynamic world events and social
We have found community film to be an amazing
tool for gathering friends and neighbors together for meaningful dialog.& Through the years, we have been fortunate to
be able to offer support to other neighborhoods discovering the same results. &The benefits of neighborhood-based film events
such as these are tremendous: from building more resilient communities where
neighbors enjoy and comfortably support one another, to organizing focused
campaigns on a variety of important and otherwise unaddressed social justice
issues, to fostering deep democracy where it truly resides, at a
person-to-person level.&
But the amount of work required to
successfully organize these film/discussion events is far greater than it at
first appears. Consistently, groups have sprung up with great passion on the
part of the organizers and tremendous energy in the participants, only to falter
when key individuals leave or burnout finally takes its toll.& At minimum, tasks include selecting films,
finding a venue, acquiring and operating multi-media equipment, negotiating
screening rights, successfully getting the word out, developing effective
facilitation and conflict resolution skills, and much more.& For this concept to survive, it became
obvious that a separate organizing and support arm needed to be developed.&
You can take a look at the films we&ve
shown over the years at:
THE MEANINGFUL MOVIES
The Meaningful Movies Project was created in 2013 (as a separate non-profit entity) by the organizers of FRIDAY NIGHT AT THE MEANINGFUL MOVIES, with a focus on providing
ongoing support to neighborhood groups operating with a similar model, to work
with these groups to assure that adequate resources are available, to help them
become independent and remain sustainable, to advocate for spreading this model
out to far reaching communities, and to commit to helping this concept
persevere. &(Information on The
Meaningful Movies Project is covered above.)
7. LIMITED
OF THE NAME &MEANINGFUL MOVIES&:
Meaningful Movies& is a registered trademark with the U.S. Patent and
Trademark Office.&
We will allow groups to use the name &Meaningful Movies&, but only with the
following limited licensing requirements:
Request and receive permission from us to use
the name &Meaningful Movies&, whether this is by itself or in any form or
combination, such as &Friday Night at the Meaningful Movies&; &Meaningful
Movies Matinee& or &Seattle Meaningful Movies&
Notify us of all events using the name
&Meaningful Movies&: date, time, place, film and event description, sponsors,
and your full contact information.& In
turn, we will do our best to help get the word out on your event.
Offer a venue that is
open to the
public, for donations only to cover expenses, so anyone can attend without stigmas. Do not operate these events for
Secure appropriate screening permissions for
film and other copyrighted media, and hold us fully harmless for any
Provide an opportunity for some form of
participatory community conversation to take place w
Provide a supportive environment where opinions
can be discussed openly in a safe, respectful and non-
Participate in a broad coalition of other groups
doing the same, to keep this concept viable and sustainable. Help expand this
idea to others.
Meaningful Movies or The Meaningful Movies
Project assumes no responsibility of liability for the actions of other groups
or individuals. We advise and assist in good faith, but final decision on acting
on these is solely born by others.& It is
assumed that organizations and individuals we assist are completely autonomous
and independent entities, separate from Meaningful Movies or The Meaningful
Movies Project .
All groups we support are based in principles of
peace, social justice, non-violence and benefit to the community.
If we can be of help,
please let us know.& And if you can,
please consider supporting us and those that we in turn support with your tax-deductible
donations.&&
Sincere thanks!
OUR CONTACT INFORMATION:
If you would like to contact us,
please send us a note to: info (at) meaningfulmovies.org
If you would like to be added to our
film event emailing list, please request to be added at:
info (at) meaningfulmovies.org
Our emailings are non-invasive
- usually one schedule of upcoming films and events emailed sent each
week, ...and sometimes a mid-week event reminder. Occasionally, there is
something important enough that we just can't help sending it out, ...but
we try to keep these to a bare minimum.
Our list is very confidential
- we hate spam as much as anyone.
If you request to be added, and don't
get our emailings within a week or so, you may want to check your settings
on your spam-blocker to allow our announcements through (emailings come
from info (at) meaningfulmovies.org or info (at) bridgings.org); emails from the url's @bridgings.org and @meaningfulmovies.org are safe.
And feel free to contact us anytime.
Please follow
us on Facebook
would like to be removed from our email list at any time,
please reply to
our email, with the following in the "SUBJECT" box:
UNSUBSCRIBE ...but don't take it personally, I just can't handle any more
of all this email overload. ...thanks."
For suggestions and comments regarding the website, please contact:
info [at] meaningfulmovies.org}