Uploaded April 2017 | Updated September 2026, 7 hours ago
Directed by Melody Shemtov
Produced by Melody Shemtov, Michael T. Heaney, and Marco Roldán
Available for educational use from Bullfrog Films: bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/acts.html
Activists and activism have long been a part of the struggle for peace and justice in American politics and society. Activists have fought battles for civil rights, voter enfranchisement, collective bargaining, and an end to wars. While these struggles have sometimes yielded significant victories, and at other times resulted in disappointing defeats, activism has always been driven by ordinary people who give freely of their time and resources to try to bring about their visions for a new world. However, activists -- as well how they fit into the political process -- are often overlooked or misunderstood by their fellow citizens.
THE ACTIVISTS: War, Peace, and Politics in the Streets is a documentary film that brings to life the stories of ordinary people who tried to stop and end the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It introduces, among others, a young man who joined the military during high school and then later became a leading opponent of U.S. foreign policy; a grandmother who asked to go to Iraq instead of her grandchildren; a women who confronted the Secretary of State with "blood on her hands"; college students at a dance party to "funk the war"; and a woman who has been an activist since she grew up attending "ban the bomb" rallies in the 1950s. The film shows that activists come from many different walks of life.
Directed by Melody Shemtov
Produced by Melody Shemtov, Michael T. Heaney, and Marco Roldán
Available for educational use from Bullfrog Films: bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/acts.html
Activists and activism have long been a part of the struggle for peace and justice in American politics and society. Activists have fought battles for civil rights, voter enfranchisement, collective bargaining, and an end to wars. While these struggles have sometimes yielded significant victories, and at other times resulted in disappointing defeats, activism has always been driven by ordinary people who give freely of their time and resources to try to bring about their visions for a new world. However, activists -- as well how they fit into the political process -- are often overlooked or misunderstood by their fellow citizens.
THE ACTIVISTS: War, Peace, and Politics in the Streets is a documentary film that brings to life the stories of ordinary people who tried to stop and end the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It introduces, among others, a young man who joined the military during high school and then later became a leading opponent of U.S. foreign policy; a grandmother who asked to go to Iraq instead of her grandchildren; a women who confronted the Secretary of State with "blood on her hands"; college students at a dance party to "funk the war"; and a woman who has been an activist since she grew up attending "ban the bomb" rallies in the 1950s. The film shows that activists come from many different walks of life.
