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NEW DAY RESOURCES FOR EDUCATORS DURING COVID-19

March 20, 2020
Dear New Day Community, We are writing to you-- our customers, colleagues, and friends-- in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic which is altering our classrooms, libraries, workplaces, and lives in unprecedented ways. Our hearts go out to everyone who is dealing one way or another with the effects of the virus. Many of our customers and our filmmakers are educators scrambling to move classes on-line. New Day is now offering tools that we hope will help ease that transition: 
Two teenage boys kiss, one is white with blond hair, the other is black.

June 2020 Commemorative Month

May 13, 2020
June is LGBTQ+ Pride Month! The anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, which were a response by mostly trans and gender non-conforming people of color to police violence, is now celebrated by queers, trans and non-binary folks, same-gender-loving folks, gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and all those questioning/exploring their gender and sexuality.
New Day Director Sylvia Johnson, a white woman with blond hair, smiles directly at the camera. This is a medium shot showing her head and half her torso.

Meet New Day: Sylvia Johnson

May 13, 2020
I am a ‘Third Culture Kid’, which basically means that I grew up moving in and out of different countries, and that my identity is transnational as a result. The camera has always been a tool for me to translate some of the myriad experiences that I’ve had to others. 
This is a multi-layered promotional black and white image set in the early 1940s for the movie Alternative Facts. A Japanese American child and a Caucasian middle-aged American officer both stare into the camera. Their images have been taken from two separate photos and combined into one. Barbed wire is layered between them. The outside of the United States' Supreme Court Building is in the background, with the text "Equal Justice Under" visible.

Celebrating Asian America in the Age of COVID-19

May 13, 2020
May is Asian Pacific American Heritage Month and, as much as I look forward to celebrating the contributions of Asian Americans, this year feels noticeably different.  For much of my life, I felt Asian Americans were making progress in this country.  I celebrated Asian Americans winning political seats, observed many slowly but surely rising up the ranks in various industries, and even witnessed my mother and father receive a formal apology and reparations for the unjust incarceration of nearly 120,000 Japanese Americans during World War II. 
Rodney Evans, a Black man, focuses a video camera on a tripod while looking down into the camera's monitor. He leans against a mirrored wall, his face and the camera reflecting back.

Meet New Day: Rodney Evans

April 27, 2020
I am a Brooklyn-based independent filmmaker who has been making narrative and documentary films for over twenty years, including Brother to Brother (Sundance Special Jury Prize in Drama) starring Anthony Mackie (The Hurt Locker) and The Happy Sad starring LeRoy McClain (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) and Charlie Barnett (Russian Doll). I also teach film production, directing and screenwriting classes at Swarthmore College.
An elder Black man stands outside and has a peaceful smile on his face. He holds a sign with bold lettering: "I Oppose the Death Penalty!"

Jerry Givens Rest in Peace, Rest in Power

April 27, 2020
It is with great sadness that we share the news of Jerry Givens’s death. At one of our earliest screenings, at a Human Rights Film Festival in Los Angeles, an audience member asked, “What are among your biggest surprises filming this documentary?Without hesitation Maggie answered, “Never in my life did I imagine I’d be calling an executioner my friend.”And a friend Jerry Givens became, indeed.
A care worker looks down at an elder woman. They hold hands, and the elder woman's eyes are downcast.

New Day on May Day: Films Focused on the Fight for Labor Rights

April 27, 2020
May Day, also called International Workers’ Day, celebrates the world’s working classes. In the midst of the global coronavirus pandemic, society’s unsung heroes now include grocery store workers, garbage collectors, maintenance crews and of course health care staff. The front lines of their battles may expose them to the deadly virus, often without adequate protective gear or hazard pay. Suddenly our nation depends upon the very people deemed not worthy of making $15 an hour.
New Day Director Jon Osaki, a Japanese American, stares directly into the camera in this black and white headshot.

March 2020 Meet New Day

March 25, 2020
As a long-time community activist and descendant of two former World War ll Japanese American incarcerees, making ALTERNATIVE FACTS: The Lies of Executive Order 9066 was a deeply personal project.
A still image from the film Wrestling Ghosts. A young mother and her child are lying in bed in opposite directions. The mother is underneath the blanket, and the child is on top, lying on the mother. The mother holds the child's feet. A calico cat is also on the bed.

Six Meaningful Films for Sexual Assault Awareness Month

March 25, 2020
The intergenerational impact of childhood abuse is the subject of Wrestling Ghosts, Ana Joanes’ recent documentary. In this intimate portrait, Joanes allows us to be with the main character, Kim, as she learns how the very damage that she was subjected to as a child plays out now in her relationships with her own children.  Kim shares deeply personal moments and invites us into her counseling sessions to witness her journey towards healing.
A headshot of Wangari Maathai, the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize. She stares directly in the camera and is smiling. She is wearing a colorful blue top and scarf and a blue head covering.

Earth Day Turns 50

March 25, 2020
April 22nd marks the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. In addition to celebrating life on Earth, Earth Day was founded to alert humanity to the need for preserving and renewing the threatened ecological balances upon which all life depends. For me, Earth Day has taken on new meaning as I witness (and feel) the overwhelming evidence that atmospheric, geologic, biospheric and other earth system processes are now being drastically altered by our human activity. 

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