Sydney Levine

Making a difference in society calls for more tools than you can find in a documentary film. It calls for vision and creative activism involving marketing, educating and partnering with real people from different walks of life. That's how to build a groundswell.I am not going to start a series here on DVD distribution benefitting the worthy causes of the subjects of films, but coming on the heels of The Creative Coalition's endeavors, this distributor to the non-theatrical community came my way, and in the interest of a good cause, I am posting it here on the heels of Poliwood and TCC. Both these postings are good case studies for others and both do go with an ongoing series of blogs I began in Cannes called When Are Films Political. The need to mobilize political forces is apparent as our new Tea Party Congress takes its seats. We did it in the 60s; we did it with Obama; we can do it again. Pick your cause, or mine these for creative possibilities for your social issue film. Kickstarter and Indie A Go Go are not the only ways to raise money.Groundswell Educational Films and our Navajo partners move mountains. Keep on reading. And clicking. In this special Navajo edition you will see hyper links to new videos about an unprecedented clean-up of Cold War uranium contamination on the reservation. Groundswell works for many good causes but today you can contribute to an urgent environmental justice campaign. Since 2000 when our film, The Return of Navajo Boy, stunned Sundance Film Festival audiences, we have raised sponsorships for Navajo speakers to travel with the film. We advocate for a clean up of radioactive waste from abandoned uranium mines. More than 1,000 abandoned uranium mines continue to impact homes, livestock, land and water across the 25,000 square mile reservation. The Navajo Nation is home to approximately 175,000 people. It holds the largest uranium deposits in the United States and suffers from the highest cancer rates in the Southwest region. In 2005 the tribe banned uranium mining forever. We are pleased to report that congress has authorized funds for a comprehensive plan to clean up abandoned mines, including the one known as Skyline Mine which impacts the family featured in our film. However, Skyline is only one site out of hundreds. Please help us call attention to all the other sites. We have succeeded in attracting national attention to this issue.