Occupy Wall Street – #whilewewatch – Documentary Screening

Snag Films

in conjunction with

The Common Good

present the

LIVE WORLD PREMIERE

 of the

Occupy Wall Street documentary  

#whilewewatch

#whilewewatch is directed by Kevin Breslin, whose recent doc “Livingfor 32″ (2010) was short-listed for an Academy Award, will have its world premiere at The Paley Center for Media, as the film is simultaneously streamed to a global audience starting at at 8pm ET/5pm PT at Snagfilms.com.

#whilewewatch is the first definitive film to emerge from Zuccotti Park. A gripping portrait of the “Occupy Wall Street” media revolution – with full access and cooperation from the masterminds who made #OccupyWallStreet a reality.

The screening will be followed by a live Q&A session with director  and “Occupy Wall Street” participants featured in the film.  Q&A questions will be taken from the global web audience during the live streaming.

#whilewewatch was the vision of Australian Producer Mike Vanderfield and produced by his company, 8docos.

Governors Tim Kaine & Christine Todd Whitman – both at TCG

The Common Good is off to a great start this May. We have two former governors who have earned national reputations – one is a Republican and the other a Democrat. Please reserve your space as soon as possible for our first two events:

On Tuesday, May 1, The Common Good will host a luncheon discussion from 12:15 – 1:45pm with former Governor Tim Kaine, Virginia’s 70th Governor and current candidate for the U.S. Senate, who remarkably led the state to one of the highest ratings for fiscal management and one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation. Governor Kaine will share his views with a small gathering over lunch on the critical economic issues in the upcoming election cycle and what changes he believes we should implement to create more jobs and strengthen our economy.

On Thursday, May 10, Governor Christine Todd Whitman, who served as the 50th Governor of New Jersey (R) and head of the Environmental Protection Agency under President George W. Bush, joins The Common Good for a private lunch discussion. Her topic: “Can there be more Reasonable Ground in our Political Process?” How do we handle the increasing partisan unwillingness to find common ground in making national policy? How do we fix the broken political system? Public policy debate and politics grow ever more acrimonious just as we need to find solutions to the looming problems around energy, climate change, job growth and the budget deficit. Governor Whitman will tackle these questions and more.

RSVP to rsvp@thecommongoodusa.org or call us at 212-599-7040. Non Members may attend two events before becoming members.

The New York Times Conference on Energy

Perhaps because energy is a priority across global economic agendas, The New York Times hosted a conference for leaders in energy to talk about the globalization of demand and debate how to finance and secure the world energy supply.

The conference had about 400 invited guests and several important speakers on the issue, including Steven Chu, Nobel winner prize winner for physics and current Secretary for Energy in the Obama administration; Daniel Yergin, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and authority on energy issues and policy, international politics and economics; Carol Browner, former assistant to President Obama and director of the White House Office of Energy and Climate Change Policy; T. Boone Pickens, founder and chairman, BP Capital Management, and founder of the grassroots campaign the Pickens Plan; Lester Brown, founder and president, Earth Policy Institute, Jim Rogers, chairman, president and C.E.O., Duke Energy, Jochen Flasbarth, president, Federal Environment Agency, Germany, and Phil Radford, executive director, Greenpeace USA.

Moderators include NYT columnists and authors: Thomas Friedman, foreign affairs columnist; Clifford Krauss, national business correspondent; and Joe Nocera, Op-Ed columnist.

Steven Chu was upbeat about clean energy in his discussion with Tom Friedman.  Despite the political partisanship in Washington, he said  he believes there are people on the other side of the aisle that recognize the economic opportunity.

The audience was perhaps most restive on the issue of natural gas extraction and “fracking.” During that panel a man in the audience stood up to shout a question to Joe Nocera demanding if he (Nocera) believed in climate change.  The heckler was nearly thrown out by security, but Nocera answered that he did believe in climate change and the fellow calmed down.

DYLAN RATIGAN

Dylan Ratigan broke bread with us at The Common Good to discuss what lies ahead in our rapidly changing national environment.  Ratigan expressed great concern about the need for an active
and informed electorate and greater transparency and accountability in a political system where money has too much influence.

Ratigan is the New York Times best-selling author and host of MSNBC’s The Dylan Ratigan Show, the highest-rated, non-prime time show on the network. Ratigan also discussed his book, Greedy Bastards, which spent five consecutive weeks on the New York Times Best Sellers List.

Ratigan served as the Global Managing Editor for Corporate Finance at Bloomberg News Service, and before that had covered mergers and acquisitions, the US stock market and IPOs.  At Bloomberg, he co-created and hosted Morning Call for Bloomberg’s cable network and the USA Network. He has served as a contributor to ABC News and his articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Miami Herald and Chicago Tribune.

Ratigan has created and/or anchored a number of shows on finance and the market.  He was the host of Fast Money, which he co-created with Susan Krakower. Previously, he was the first anchor of CNBC’s On the Money. He also anchored the CNBC TV program Bullseye for about a year and a half. In addition to his former duties as co-anchor on Closing Bell, Ratigan was a rotating co-anchor of The Call.

Ratigan left Fast Money in 2009, provoked by outrage over the government’s handling of the 2008 financial crisis. Since then, he has dedicated his work to launching platforms that engage and debate the U.S. government on policy, while opening the door for millions to learn more about money’s often poisonous role in elections and democracy.

JOE KENNEDY with CAROLINE KENNEDY

On March 27th Caroline Kennedy held a cocktail reception to raise funds for her kin — the young but impressive Joe Kennedy, who is running for the congressional seat vacated by Rep. Barney Frank.  Joe embraces his family’s legacy in Massachusetts while also acknowledging that name alone will not assure him electoral success.  “You’ve got to earn it,” Kennedy has said.  “You’ve got to go out every day and talk to people, listen to their concerns, shake more hands, knock on more doors, take more phone calls.”  

Unfortunately, I missed the elegant cocktail evening to be with my dad in California after he suffered a significant cardiac event, but watch Joe Kennedy.  He’s going places.

GLORIA STEINEM

On March 21, The Common Good screened HBO’s fascinating documentary,  Gloria in her own Words,  followed by a discussion with Gloria moderated by CBS morning co-anchor, Gayle King.  The talk showed the  human side of the icon and an unbridled look at her views.  Steinem’s work in broadening women’s rights seems as important and fresh as ever – especially given the recent controversy about contraception and attempts to end support for Planned Parenthood and its medical care for women.

Among our hosts  and celebrity attendees that evening: David Schwimmer, of the ever popular Friends TV show, Chair of HELP USA Maria Cuomo Cole, Cuomo family matriarch and advocate Matilda Cuomo,  three time Tony Award winning Broadway producer Dori Berinstein, former NY First Lady Michelle Paige Paterson, uber cool fashion designers Rachel Roy and Charlotte Ronson, filmmaker Barbara Kopple, former New York Congresswoman Elizabeth Holtzman, and USA Network founder Kay Koplovitz among others.

Zbigniew Brzezinski

The Common Good hosted a very special Luncheon and Discussion with Former National Security Advisor and Statesman, Zbigniew Brzezinski, with an introduction by Mika Brzezinski,  Anchor of Morning Joe on MSNBC. Brzezinski  spoke expansively about his new book, Strategic Vision.

America, Brzezinski argues, must define and pursue a comprehensive and long-term a geopolitical vision, a vision that is responsive to the challenges of the changing historical context. His new book seeks to provide the strategic blueprint for that vision.

KEN MEHLMAN, ROBERT SHRUM & RICHARD WOLFFE

On November 17, 2011 The Common Good presented a special “Election Panel 2012″ with three of the best experts on election strategy. A powerful bipartisan trio – Ken Mehlman, the brilliant former Chair of the Republican National Committee, Robert Shrum, the amazingly clever Democratic political strategist and messaging expert, and Richard Wolffe, author and journalist, known as a keen observer of the American political scene, gave a frank discussion and prognostication of the American political landscape. A truly memorable evening.

“DESERT FLOWER” SCREENING WITH LIYA KEBEDE

The Com­mon Good in part­ner­ship with InStyle Mag­a­zine andNational Geo­graphic Enter­tain­ment invite you to a spe­cial screen­ing of

6:30 p.m. Red Car­pet Arrivals
7:00 p.m. Screening

Recep­tion to follow

The Paley Cen­ter for Media
25 W. 52^nd Street, New York, NY 10017

Desert Flower was adapted from the inter­na­tional best­seller of the same name which has sold more than 10 mil­lion copies world­wide. It traces the improb­a­ble jour­ney of a young Somali woman who treks across the African Desert to find fame and for­tune in the west, and in doing so, dis­cov­ers the strength and voice to bring atten­tion to the dis­may­ing prac­tice of female gen­i­tal muti­la­tion and it’s assault on a woman’s free­dom and dignity.

“LIFE IN A DAY” SCREENING – JULY 24

TCG in part­ner­ship with National Geo­graphic Enter­tain­ment presents the New York pre­miere of this unique a doc­u­men­tary film that cap­tures the expe­ri­ence of the global com­mu­nity on a sin­gle day.

“Life in a Day”, directed by Oscar win­ner Kevin Mac­don­ald and pro­duced by Rid­ley Scott, used thou­sands of clips from YouTube users around the world, all shot on July 24, 2010. This first-of-its-kind doc­u­men­tary was an offi­cial selec­tion at the Sun­dance, Berlin and SXSW Film Fes­ti­vals ear­lier this year.