This is what voter protection looks like. Five days before the 2016 election, a tight-knit volunteer group travels to North Carolina to legally observe and assist voters. Their experiences during that long day at the polls serve as both warning and call to action to protect and participate in the right to vote. Deeply personal, often surprising perspectives prove that the big idea of American democracy can be defended by small acts of individual citizens. 2018, DCP, 76 min.
On Thursday, stay for a postscreening discussion with director, Anne de Mare, producer and voter protection volunteer, Laverne Berry, and Minnesota’s Director of Voter Outreach, Nasser Mussa. Moderated by Euan Kerr.
Anne de Mare is an Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker. Her feature film exploring the realities of youth homelessness, The Homestretch, received the 2015 Emmy for Outstanding Business and Economic Reporting–Long Form. Most recently, she was coproducer on the PBS documentary Deej, winner of the prestigious 2017 Peabody Award. She has been a Sundance Institute Fellow, part of the US State Department’s American Film Showcase program, and an associate artist with Chicago’s legendary Kartemquin Films. Her work has been supported by MacArthur Foundation, Sundance Institute, Carnegie Corporation of New York, Chicken & Egg Pictures, and American Documentary Inc., among others. De Mare’s first feature, Asparagus! Stalking the American Life, explored the relationship between asparagus farmers in rural western Michigan and the changing global economy and won the 2006 W. K. Kellogg Good Food Film Award.
Nasser Mussa is voter outreach director for the Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State, directing voter outreach and civic engagement efforts. In partnership with community organizations, nonprofit, educational institutions, and businesses, Nasser provides voter education and voter registration assistance statewide. He also leads the development of election judge training materials and polling place accessibility materials.
Laverne Berry (producer) is an entertainment and media business affairs attorney representing independent film and television producers, directors, production companies, distribution companies, authors, and media companies. She has been named a New York Metro Area Super Lawyer for six years by Thompson Reuters; and was included the New York Times’ Top Women Attorneys in New York, 2014–2017.
Born in Glasgow, Scotland, Euan Kerr is an arts correspondent with the MPR News Culture Unit and with MPR’s Movie Maven Stephanie Curtis. He has worked as an editor with MPR’s bureau reporters while also filing pieces for NPR and the BBC.
)