Bullfrog Communities, a project of Bullfrog Films, is thrilled to announce the availability of major award-winning new releases for virtual or in-person community and campus-wide screenings this summer.

Book now for Summer events!

THE FOOD REVOLUTION

We all need to eat, but the way we do it is entirely unsustainable. While it may be tempting to admit defeat, we now know that one of the biggest triggers for global warming is something all of us do every day. FIXING FOOD tells the story of trailblazers developing novel ways to lower our carbon footprint by changing our approach to food. From a family raising tasty crickets to a pre-Colonial, Indigenous-centered approach to food service, find out how you can lower your carbon footprint by changing the way you eat. These innovators are leaving a trail of footprints out of the snowstorm of unsustainable eating. Will we follow them?

ART HISTORY OR RACIST ART?

George Washington had many monikers: Father of His Country, American Fabius, American Cincinnatus. The Seneca called him something different: Hanödaga꞉nyas...TOWN DESTROYER. In San Francisco's George Washington High School, Victor Arnautoff's New Deal mural "Life of Washington" vividly depicts Washington as the archetypal stoic pioneer and, in contrast to the master narrative, a true destroyer of towns, commanding slaves and the bloody seizure of Native American lands. At the center of the school, at eye-level, is a life-size Native American laying face down in the dirt, dead. TOWN DESTROYER grapples with trauma, cancel culture, and the role controversial art plays in the public discourse surrounding the brutal history woven into our country's DNA. This intersection of art, history, and the racial reckoning of our time all hinges on one question: should the school preserve the murals or destroy them?

DANCERS, CHANCE-TAKERS & LEGACY

Merce Cunningham is widely regarded as the most influential choreographer of the 20th century. 30 years after the premiere of his iconic work, AUGUST PACE: 1989-2019 chronicles the passing of the torch from one generation of dancers to the next as they collaborate to recreate August Pace. This experiment in group transmission echoes the fiercely exploratory spirit that defined Cunningham, a man who always looked to the horizon of dance and the world around it.

GREAT AMERICANS & TRUTH

What defines a great American? To Robert Shetterly, it isn't all about your purse and power; it's about peace, racial equity, environmental justice, and the truth. A longtime activist and artist, Shetterly's work has been exhibited throughout the US for two decades. TRUTH TELLERS tells the story about this intersection of activism and art. His series of portraits "Americans Who Tell the Truth" depict exemplary citizens who confront issues of social, environmental and economic fairness. Ranging from legendary civil rights leaders like Frederick Douglass to climate activists like Bill McKibben, Shetterly etches the legacy of true American paragons into his canvases and our memories.

WAR CRIMES, FREE PRESS & ASSANGE

ITHAKA: a father, family, and historic fight for journalistic freedom. The founder of WikiLeaks and famous political prisoner, Julian Assange, faces up to 175 years in prison for publishing hundreds of thousands of leaked classified documents, many of which expose the US for war crimes. One leaked video shows an American Apache helicopter open fire on a group of civilians, killing several people including two Reuters journalists. The film follows Assange's family and their unending battle to save him from the abyss of the US justice system. Assange's father, John Shipton, and fiancé Stella Moris join forces to campaign and advocate for Julian in an international odyssey that may come to define First Amendment law for decades to come.

THE MOST DANGEROUS WOMAN IN AMERICA

FIGHT LIKE HELL chronicles the life of the Irish-born American labor organizer and firebrand Mother Jones. From the coal mines to the textile mills, she made a reputation for herself as a fierce champion of workers' rights. Along the way, she made alliances with coal workers and enemies with robber barons. As the gap between the rich and the poor continues to get wider and wider, find out why powerful industrialists called her “the most dangerous woman in America”.

THE BIRTH OF ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS

50 years ago, Stewart Udall was the first US public official to warn the country about global warming. He paved the way for climate awareness as we know it today, but do we know his story? The feature documentary STEWART UDALL: THE POLITICS OF BEAUTY examines the life and legacy of Udall from his childhood to his time as the most prominent Secretary of the Interior in history. While Udall made a reputation of himself for championing groundbreaking policies in environmental law, he was much more than an environmentalist; he was a de-segregationist, an advocate for the arts, and a good man.

SAVING ANCIENT ARTHROPODS

The endangered Red Knot population has crashed. The fate of this shorebird may be tied to an unlikely arthropod. HORSESHOE CRAB MOON follows scientists, researchers, and citizen scientists studying the depopulation of horseshoe crabs and the various migrating shorebirds that depend on their eggs. Can they prevent humans from destroying a species so ancient that it predates the dinosaurs?

THE KEEPERS OF WHIDBEY ISLAND

In EVER GREEN, Marianne Edain and Steve Erickson have, for the last 40 years, stood between the idyllic Whidbey Island and the environmentally reckless development projects that could jeopardize its ecologically diverse and rural character. Marianne and Steve's Whidbey Environmental Action Network (WEAN) has monitored county applications for development and logging; challenged projects that overtly violate state environmental law and led the way in science-based environmental public policymaking. Their efforts provide a model for people who want to keep trees standing and nature thriving.

ANTI-ESTABLISHMENT, FREE SCHOOLS

Amid the contemporary battle for the soul of American Education, the "free schools" movement of the early 70s seems small in the rearview mirror... or is it? Filmed over a full school year, WELCOME TO COMMIE HIGH chronicles one of the sole survivors of this wave of alternative, free schools: Community High School of Ann Arbor, Michigan. Their anti-establishment, humanistic roots gave rise to the thriving public school they are today. WELCOME TO COMMIE HIGH, the school that gives students the freedom they need to flourish into creative, learned, and active members of their community.

These films are available both virtually and for in-person events. For more information on booking a virtual screening right now, please go to Bullfrog Communities Streaming.

Click the links above or below to see trailers and for more information.

FIXING FOOD
Our food has a huge carbon footprint. FIXING FOOD tells five stories of creative new ways to create a more sustainable, healthy, and equitable food system.
"The recent pandemic has pointed out serious problems with our global food system. FIXING FOOD offers excellent examples of projects and businesses underway around America that highlight potential solutions from production, to improved food distribution, and to eating unusual foods. For students and for those interested in improving the food system, this is a must see documentary!" Andrew Smith, Associate Professor of Food Studies, The New School, Author, Why Waste Food?

TOWN DESTROYER
In TOWN DESTROYER a high-profile battle erupts over images of African American slaves and Native Americans in New Deal-era murals at a San Francisco high school.
"TOWN DESTROYER stimulated one of the most engaging discussions we have had among the students in my course on modern American cultural history. The film helped them to articulate their own disparate views on controversial art and to respectfully discuss challenging issues of inclusion and diversity." Kathy Peiss, Roy F. and Jeannette P. Nichols Professor of American History, University of Pennsylvania

AUGUST PACE: 1989-2019
30 years after the premiere of Merce Cunningham's August Pace, this film records the passing-on of an iconic work from the original performers to a new generation of dancers.
"Moment after moment, the dancing makes one catch one's breath. As each dancer speaks about the experience, you feel the fun, excitement, and beauty that made them likewise catch their own breaths." Alastair Macaulay, former chief dance critic, New York Times

TRUTH TELLERS
Chronicles the lives of Americans fighting for peace, racial equity, environmental justice and indigenous rights through the eyes of Robert Shetterly, a longtime activist and artist.
Camden International Film Festival
Hamptons Doc Fest
Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival
"Our students need to know that U.S. history is filled with individuals who joined and built social movements to make the world more just. TRUTH TELLERS offers an inspiring look at some of these activists and helps young people recognize that people make history - and they can, too." Deborah Menkart, Executive Director, Teaching for Change, Co-Director, Zinn Education Project

ITHAKA
Filmed over two years across the UK, Europe and the US, ITHAKA follows 76 year-old retired builder John Shipton's tireless campaign to save his son, Julian Assange.
DOC NYC
Doc Edge Film Festival
Sydney Film Festival
“The persecution of Assange establishes a precedent that will not only allow the powerful to keep their crimes secret but will even make the revelation of such claims punishable by law. Let us not fool ourselves: once telling the truth has become a crime we will all be living in a tyranny.” Nils Melzer, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture

FIGHT LIKE HELL
We were never supposed to know her name. She was a poor Irish immigrant who survived famine and war, fire and plague. Unable to save her husband or their four small children, she dedicated her life to saving working families everywhere. The robber barons called her “the most dangerous woman in America,” but workers called her “Mother Jones.”
Toronto International Women Film Festival
Washington DC International Cinema Festival
Chicago Irish Film Festival
"FIGHT LIKE HELL will motivate the unorganized to organize and the organized to do more!" Chris Smalls, President/Founder, Amazon Labor Union

STEWART UDALL: The Politics of Beauty
STEWART UDALL: The Politics of Beauty is a feature documentary that examines the trajectory of Udall's life from his childhood to his time in Congress and then, most significantly, his years as the most prominent and effective Secretary of the Interior.
Wild & Scenic Film Festival
Docs Without Borders Int'l Film Festival
Environmental Film Festival in the Nation's Capital
"It beckons us all to public service, informs us on how we came to benefit from the conservation we so enjoy, and, perhaps above all, teaches us the power of persistence and a smile. Don't miss this masterpiece." Gus Speth, Director, United Nations Development Program, Former Dean, Yale School of Forestry and Environment

HORSESHOE CRAB MOON
HORSESHOE CRAB MOON looks at the decline of horseshoe crabs and the crash of the red knot that depends on horseshoe crab eggs for sustenance during migration, and suggests possible solutions.
"HORSESHOE CRAB MOON is an exquisite film about interspecies relationships and illustrates the indispensability of horseshoe crabs to our marine ecosystem. As a keystone species, horseshoe crabs are connected to the wellbeing of birds, turtles and fish. Showcasing conservation efforts, this lively documentary follows citizen scientists as they gather health data about shorebirds and documents the longitudinal effects of humans' use of horseshoe crabs for bait." Lisa Jean Moore, Professor of Sociology and Gender Studies, Purchase College SUNY, Author, Catch and Release: The Enduring, yet Vulnerable Horseshoe Crab

EVER GREEN
For almost 40 years, partners Marianne Edain and Steve Erickson have worked continually to retain the rural character and ecological diversity of Whidbey Island in Puget Sound, north of Seattle.
"EVER GREEN is an inspiring tribute to the power of sustained, committed, and smart local activism to preserve the integrity of land and communities in the face of unrelenting development pressures. It confirms the aphorism that 'the world is run by the people who show up.' And it doesn't hurt to know the law and hold local officials accountable to it." Philip Brick, Professor of Politics and Environmental Studies, Whitman College

WELCOME TO COMMIE HIGH
WELCOME TO COMMIE HIGH is an in-depth exploration of Community High School in Ann Arbor, MI, one of the sole survivors from America's early '70s "free schools" movement, now a thriving public school.
58th Ann Arbor Film Festival Official Selection
"These are dark days for American education: overcrowded classrooms, dejected teachers, and dull curricula. WELCOME TO COMMIE HIGH is a bolt of lightning, jolting us out of our cynicism and complacency. This superb film reminds us how much our students can learn, if we give them the freedom - and the inspiration - to do so." Jonathan Zimmerman, Professor of History of Education, University of Pennsylvania, Author, Whose America? Culture Wars in the Public Schools

See https://www.bullfrogcommunities.com for a complete list of our titles. If you have questions, contact me at [email protected].

Coming Soon: How do you uproot an industry when the whole world is addicted to its poison? From the voices of young climate activists and seasoned oil company executives, THE OIL MACHINE explores the uncertain fate of North Sea oil and questions the future of oil as a whole.

Regards,
Alex, Bullfrog Communities
[email protected]