Film On Hutto Detention Center To Premiere At South By Southwest

The film, co-produced and co-directed by Clark Lyda and Jesse Lyda and produced by Marcy Garriott, chronicles the ACLU's successful legal challenge to the prison-like conditions at a Texas detention center where immigrant children and their families are held.

The End of America in NYC

by Allison Walker, ACLU

In case you're old-fashioned and like to see your movies on the big screen, not the computer screen, The End of America, a new documentary from Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg, based on the New York Times bestseller by Naomi Wolf about this country's descent into a surveillance society, opens tomorrow, December 3, at the IFC Center in NYC.

I <3 Milk...and You Should Too!

by Ian Thompson, ACLU

Like many ACLU members and activists no doubt, I'm very excited about the opening of Gus Van Sant's new film Milk this week. It follows the final years in the life of a pioneer in the gay rights movement, Harvey Bernard Milk. When Harvey was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1977 (on his fourth try for public office no less), he became the first openly gay man elected to a major public office in America. Today, it's hard to believe that such an important milestone for gay and lesbian people happened a mere three decades ago.

The End of America? Habeas Corpus for Men?

by Allison Walker, ACLU

As you may recall, in February, the ACLU was there on the red carpet at the Academy Awards. This past weekend, there we were again in the Hamptons. Friday, October 17th, the ACLU, Rights / Camera / Action, and IndiePix co-hosted the premiere of "The End of America," a new documentary from award-winning filmmakers Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg at the Hamptons International Film Festival.

There Isn't a More Important Time…to Watch TV

by Suzanne Ito, ACLU

Tonight's the last of the presidential debates, and we've got our fingers crossed that a few constitutional issues will be addressed - like government spying on American citizens living abroad, including military personnel overseas, and the torture and indefinite detention of prisoners in the so-called "war on terror." (They haven't discussed this stuff yet, but we've got our collective fingers crossed.)

BRCA, Genetic Testing, and Civil Liberties: It's What Christina Applegate, Oprah, and PBS Are All Talking About

by Selene Kaye, ACLU

The BRCA (breast cancer) genes have been at the forefront of a lot of conversations these days. All men and women have the BRCA genes, but some of us have hereditary mutations along these genes that have been linked to breast and ovarian cancer. In the Family, a documentary film that premiered on PBS last night, explores the intensely personal question of what to do when you find out that you have a BRCA mutation that drastically elevates your risk for developing cancer.

Battle in Seattle and the Right to Protest

by Allison Walker, ACLU

Stuart Townsend's new film Battle in Seattle is the fictional story of the very real protests that rocked the world in November 1999 when thousands of demonstrators took to the streets of Seattle in protest of the World Trade Organization's (WTO) Ministerial Meeting.

The Little Film That Could Garners Top Prize

by Allison Walker, ACLU

Congratulations to Tom McCarthy and the all the folks behind The Visitor, which yesterday took the top prize at the 34th Deauville Film Festival. I like to think of The Visitor as the little independent film that could...

ACLU Attorney Helps Expose Secrets

by Allison Walker, ACLU

Many of you know about the documentary Secrecy from the ACLU Membership Conference in June, where we screened it and hosted a Q&A with filmmakers Robb Moss and Peter Galison afterwards. Co-director Robb Moss was also part of the Rights, Camera, Action panel discussion on Sunday, June 8, and his fellow co-director Peter Galison spoke on the panel...

More >>