WeTalk — There’s a New Boycott in Town

Host Ondi Timoner opens a dialogue about the film industry in the South and why a boycott doesn’t always hit the right target.

“Our long game can’t be pitting one another against ourselves, right?” says Stacey Davis. “We can’t have progressives in California pitting themselves against progressives in Georgia over a fight in the film industry, because that’s not going to help anything.”

In celebration of Alabama and Georgia’s abortion bans being blocked by federal judges, here is our third episode of WeTalk from the Sidewalk Film Festival! This episode, filmed in Birmingham, Alabama, takes us into the thick of that tumultuous time when seven states were trying to criminalize abortion and offers some insights from local filmmakers that might surprise you. In conversation with WeTalk host Ondi Timoner about why a boycott doesn’t always hit the right target are producer, actress and director Melodie Sisk; Molly Coffee, a director and the Creative Director of Film Impact Georgia; and Stacey Davis, an entertainment lawyer and who is currently President of the Board of Directors of the Sidewalk Film Center + Cinema.

Producer/director Ondi Timoner has the rare distinction of winning the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival twice. Her 2004 doc, Dig!, explores the star-crossed rivalry of the Dandy Warhols and the Brian Jonestown Massacre, while her 2009 top prize-winner, We Live in Public, examines privacy in the virtual age through Internet visionary Josh Harris’ social experiments. Her company A Total Disruption releases weekly short docs about thought leaders and doers who are transforming our lives through technology.