Producer: Isabel Castro

Nitehawk presents a special President’s Day screening of AMERICA UPRISING, a journalistic short documentary project that brings viewers inside U.S. movements and onto the front lines of conflict.

There is an unprecedented wave of social protest throughout the United States. Created by the team behind the AMERICA DIVIDED docuseries, AMERICA UPRISING is a journalistic documentary project that brings viewers inside these movements and onto the front lines of conflict, from living rooms to the state house to the streets.

PROGRAM

FARMWORKERS
There are over half a million undocumented immigrants in Florida. Many are farmworkers. Catalina Santiago, a farmworker and organizer with Movimiento Cosecha, is determined to fight for immigrant rights. She and others organize towards an immigrant labor strike.

WESTFIELD 20/20
In Westfield, New Jersey, a group of residents new to organizing pressure local politicians who support President Trump’s agenda. An early focus is Congressman Leonard Lance, and the fate of the Affordable Care Act.

THIS LAND I LOVE
A year after the historic native-led protest at Standing Rock, President Trump greenlights the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline his first week in office. Activist Judith LeBlanc and thousands of others bring the fight to the streets of Washington D.C.

MUSLIM BAN
One of President Trump’s first acts in office was to ban individuals travelling from majority Muslim countries from entering the United States. In New York, Yemeni activist Rabyaah Althaibani protests the so-called “Muslim Ban” and navigates the policy’s impact on her own family.

CLIMATE MARCH
Environmentalist Bill McKibbon discusses the implications of President Trump’s environmental policies on the planet, and participates in the Climate March in Washington D.C.

MARCH FOR BLACK WOMEN
The Women’s March brought millions of people into the streets in January, but organizers of the March For Black Women are determined to center the voices and experiences of black women – as they are too often marginalized in mainstream resistance movements. Activist and organizer Farah Tanis discusses how her family history led her to a life of activism.

SAFE HAVEN PT. 1 AND PT. 2
Ravi Ragbir is the executive director of the New Sanctuary Coalition, and also one of 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States. Following President Trump’s election, many undocumented immigrants who had been deprioritized for deportation are being removed. Along with hundreds of his supporters, Ragbir shows up to an appointment with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

CHARLOTTESVILLE
The “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia ended in bloodshed when a white supremacist drove his car into anti-racist demonstrators. Heather Heyer, a 32 year old paralegal, was killed, and more than a dozen others were injured. Charlottesville Vice Mayor Wes Bellamy recounts events that lead up to the day, and the battle over the removal of confederate monuments in the city – a fight he says is all about race, not heritage.

AFTER THE STORM
Hurricane María made landfall in Puerto Rico on September 20th, devastating the island. In response to criticism of the slow federal response, President Trump lashed out, tweeting that Puerto Ricans “want everything to be done for them.” Activists on the ground, who began organizing relief brigades in the first days after the storm, tell a different story.

WOMEN’S MARCH
The Women’s March brought millions of people into the streets in January, but organizers of the March For Black Women are determined to center the voices and experiences of black women – as they are too often marginalized in mainstream resistance movements. Activist and organizer Farah Tanis discusses how her family history led her to a life of activism.