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Pocantico 2023 Spring Forum: Screening of “Boycott”
May 9, 2023 @ 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
David Rockefeller Creative Arts Center at Pocantico
All visitors must reserve a free timed-entry ticket prior to visiting
Here is the link to the site: https://www.rbf.org/pocantico/
A screening of Just Vision’s award-winning documentary Boycott will be followed by a discussion with the film’s director, Julia Bacha, and producer, Suhad Babaa, moderated by Perry Cammack, the program director for Peacebuilding at the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.
Boycott follows the stories of a news publisher in Arkansas, an attorney in Arizona, and a speech therapist in Texas. When forced to choose between their jobs and their political beliefs, they launched legal battles that exposed an attack on freedom of speech across America. A legal thriller with these “accidental plaintiffs” at its center, Boycott is an inspiring tale of everyday Americans standing up to protect their rights in an age of shifting politics and threats to freedom of speech.
The film traces the impact of legislation passed in 34 states that is designed to penalize individuals and companies that boycott Israel due to its human rights record. In 2021, state legislators began to introduce copycat bills taking aim at boycotts of the fossil fuels and firearms industries. More recently, legislators modified those bills to target those organizing for transgender peoples’ rights, abortion access, and workplace equity. Since the start of 2023 alone, over 30 copycat bills have been introduced in state legislatures across the country. Through Boycott, learn more about these laws and their wider implications for the right to voice dissent in America.
Since the film’s launch in 2021, Boycott has screened in over 120 locations, from SXSW in Texas to Hot Docs in Toronto, and has been featured in major outlets including The New York Times, CNN, and MSNBC.
The screening will be followed by a reception with special access to the DR Center gallery, currently showing Inspired Encounters: Women Artists and the Legacies of Modern Art.
SUHAD BABAA
Suhad Babaa is a producer, news publisher, and executive director and president of Just Vision. Recent productions include Boycott and Naila and the Uprising. She is the co-publisher of the award-winning Hebrew-language news site Local Call. Babaa helped lead the impact campaigns for Budrus, which won the 2012 Doc Society Social Impact Award, and the Peabody award-winning documentary My Neighbourhood. She is a Sundance Creative Producing Fellow, and Term Member at the Council on Foreign Relations.
JULIA BACHA
Julia Bacha is a Peabody award-winning filmmaker and creative director at Just Vision. Her directing credits include Encounter Point, Budrus, My Neighbourhood, Naila and the Uprising, and Boycott. In addition to over thirty film festival awards, Julia is the recipient of the 2010 King Hussein Leadership Prize, the 2012 Ridenhour Film Prize, 2015 Guggenheim Fellowship, and the 2017 Medal of Excellence from Columbia University. She is a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Association’s documentary branch.
PERRY CAMMACK
Perry Cammack is the program director for Peacebuilding at the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. Previously, Mr. Cammack worked on Middle East diplomatic, security, democracy, and economic issues as a staff member in the United States Senate and the U.S. Department of State, and as a fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.