99 Press Notes

99% THE OCCUPY WALL STREET COLLABORATIVE FILM OFFICIAL SELECTION · DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION 2013 SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL USA / 2013 / 97 MIN. / COLOR A Film Founded by Audrey Ewell & Aaron Aites Directed by: Audrey Ewell Aaron Aites Lucian Read Nina Krstic Co-directed by: Katie Teague, Peter Leeman, Aric Gutnick, Abby Martin, Doree Simon Press Contacts: Steve Beeman Shannon Treusch Falco Ink Falco Ink [email protected] [email protected] (917) 854-8700 (c) (917)-225-7093 (c) Sales Contact: Paradigm Agency – Ben Weiss (c) 310 – 403-0113 [email protected] SYNOPSIS In September 2011, The Occupy Wall Street movement propelled issues of economic inequality into the spotlight. 99% - The Occupy Wall Street Collaborative Film goes behind the scenes of the movement, definitively revealing what happened, and why. Personal stories imbue analysis of big picture issues with the real-world struggles of those compelled to take action, speak up, march, and risk arrest and brutality at the hands of oppressive police forces around the country. Supporters, participants, experts and critics shed light on why and how this movement took off with such explosive force, and ask what the next phase might encompass. The film situates Occupy within the recent emergence of decentralized resistance movements that are challenging the top-down structures of corporate and governmental hierarchy. From the formation of new communities, to protestors and police battling in what many describe as the criminalization of protest, the film reveals a web of power and privilege that consolidates political power and wealth in the hands of a few elite players, while shining a light on the unrest this has caused amongst a diverse cross- section of people who call themselves the 99%. Made in a unique and unprecedented collaboration of almost 100 filmmakers across the country, the production process of this feature film offers a uniquely diverse way of bringing context to the movement that has swept up America, and much of the world, with its story. FOUNDING DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT On October 1st 2011, I was home in Brooklyn doing promotional work for a film that was opening in London. I was also half watching an internet livestream covering a movement that had begun just two weeks earlier - a movement that called itself “Occupy Wall Street.” On this day, 1000 protestors peacefully marched onto the Brooklyn Bridge, escorted by NYC police; but now those police were suddenly arresting them by the hundreds. The unfolding drama eventually took my attention completely, and when the signal went out, I flipped on the news to see the story unfold. But it wasn’t there. 740 people being arrested on the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City in broad daylight apparently wasn’t news. So that night, my film partner Aaron Aites and I went down to Zuccotti Park and filmed. People from all over the country stood up and told their stories of inequality. These were people from all walks of life, all with different issues but all boiling down to the same idea: the system didn’t work for them anymore, and things had been too bad for too long. For them, it was time to take to the streets, raise their voices, and claim their power. Aaron and I were the only people filming that night with a light, and others who were capturing the moment with their phones thanked us for bringing it. It was then that I felt compelled to make this documentary. Although I’m not part of the movement, I thought it important that its story be objectively and accurately told. And I was interested in their processes, which frankly all seemed a little strange to me. So Aaron and I decided to make the film in a process that would mirror theirs; a sort of parallel experiment. We may not yet know what effect this movement will have in ten, fifteen or even fifty years, but in 99% - The Occupy Wall Street Collaborative Film, I wanted to place OWS in a contemporary and historical context, taking both a micro and macro view of the social, political and economic facets of the story, and help us to understand and engage these fascinating questions today. - Audrey Ewell, Brooklyn, NY EXPERIMENTAL PRODUCTION PROCESS The film was designed to be an unaffiliated parallel experiment - to test the processes of the Occupy movement in a real-word, goal oriented context. Aaron Aites and I started the film with just three rules: 1) Anyone and everyone was welcome to make the film with us. 2) As more experienced filmmakers, we would guide the process and handle big-picture stuff. 3) This film would not be propaganda but would instead give context to the movement and the environment from which it sprang. We put out a call for collaborators within our own film contacts and via press and quickly received over 100 responses. Initially we tried to organize and communicate using an email list, but it was quickly apparent this would be too chaotic. We were inundated with over 100 emails a day, and people without experience often derailed logistics conversations with well meaning but clutter-inducing chatter. Some people left the film after learning that we wouldn’t just show positive aspects of the movement, and others left because there were just too many emails to handle. Collaborator turnover in the first few weeks was high. I started to wonder if the whole thing was a terrible idea. But, knowing from the outset that we were experimenting with an untested collaborative production process, we also knew that we'd have to adjust as we went along – that was part and parcel of the process. So before we disbanded the list altogether, Aaron and I wrote up a provisional film outline and gave it to the larger group, where it was expanded based on their interests. People then self-selected leadership/directing roles. A few more people left as we became more focused, and as it became clear to them that we were still going to use normal film hierarchies, with the more experienced filmmakers leading the process, but we were going to have a more open and collaborative creative process. As some left, others joined and several people stepped forward to take on directing roles for specific topics. For the few topics still unfilled, I asked people if they’d take them on and/or work with us. These became our directors and co-directors, as Aaron and I also focused on the topics we were directing. We worked closely and intensively with everyone to make sure the end result would be a cohesive film with all of these threads woven together. Since we were committed to being as inclusive as possible without disrupting the production process, I also found out what skills everyone had, and for those who didn’t film, I found other ways for them to be involved; things like digital and social outreach, website development, graphics and animation, etc. I then broke the list down into geographic groups, disbanded the giant headache-inducing email list, talked to each person to find out what they wanted to do, and worked with each regional group to ensure that important events were covered in their area. In addition to the story and character elements in the film, I also coordinated national shooting days, working 100 hour weeks for eight months straight, trying to manage a project that was much bigger than one person, yet which needed centralized oversight to stay organized and come together. The workload was extreme, and so exhausted, without a compass or guide or example to follow, I wondered if all this would amount to anything. A few months into the production, it was time to begin the story edit. Aaron and I worked with our other media wranglers, and the four of us coordinated hard drive exchanges around the country. All the footage eventually ended up in NY, where it was logged, transcoded, and interviews were transcribed by a hard-working group of assistant editors. Co-directors and directors worked on pre-edits with co-editors, then their edited pieces along with all their raw footage and the raw footage from all the contributors was catalogued in our massive hard-drive array. Meanwhile, Aaron and I had been working with the first of three editors to form the backbone of the timeline of the film, and then we integrated all the directors and co-directors threads and sub-threads into the final film. We used their pre-edits as guides of intent, but essentially had to pull it all apart and weave everyone's footage/threads together, integrating work form various directors, co-directors and shooters into one complete film. We often had to go back to people and ask them to do pick-up shoots because we didn't have essential information, or because we didn't have enough b-roll, etc. Aaron and I ended up working with 3 different editors plus 4 co-editors, several additional editors, and 3 assistant editors; and our post production supervisor, James Salkind deserves a medal for helping us set up systems that would allow for this to run more or less smoothly. If ever there was a film that needed a postproduction supervisor, it was this one, and thankfully we had a great one. For the first couple months of the edit, we held weekly screenings so the core NY team could offer feedback, and then, as deadlines got tighter, Aaron and I started to work more intensively and screenings became fewer. We gave the other NY directors access and took their input, but there were a few months of intensive, long editing sessions that just needed to be really directed, and that was our job.

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