Documentary filmmakers working on socially engaged projects are accustomed to thinking about impact in terms of reach: funders, festivals, audiences. But getting people to watch is not the same as changing what they believe—and changing what they believe is not the same as changing the world. Researcher and author Sarah Stein Lubrano studies how people actually change their minds, and her findings challenge many assumptions about how art and politics intersect. In this workshop, she will introduce filmmakers to key theories of power and political change, drawing on her research into cognitive dissonance and political communication. Then she will guide attendees to pressure-test and refine their own theory of change for the work we make.
Facilitator: Sarah Stein Lubrano (Don't Talk About Politics: How to Change 21st-Century Minds)
Moderator: Pulkit Datta (Tikkun Olam Productions)
Biographies (submitted by the speakers):
Pulkit Datta is a producer, director, and film programmer, based in New York. Over fifteen years, he has worked on a wide range of scripted films, documentaries, commercials, short films, music videos and multimedia campaigns. His films have screened at festivals such as Toronto, Tribeca, Atlanta, Fantasia, LAAPFF, Cleveland, and OutFest. As a producer with Tikkun Olam Productions, he has co-produced the feature documentary ISRAELISM (Big Sky, CPH:Dox, Brooklyn Film Festival), and produced the climate activism doc series VS. GOLIATH (SeriesFest, DC/DOX) and video podcast BEYOND ISRAELISM (Zeteo). Pulkit is also a producer on the fiction feature JERSEY BOY, doc feature HOOP LIKE THIS, and previously INVISIBLE (Amazon Prime, Tubi), and the short documentary DO WE BELONG? (The Atlantic, 2018 IDA Doc Award shortlist). Pulkit has been a Producing Fellow at Center for Asian American Media as well as Impact Partners, and is an alum of Gotham Project Market.
Dr Sarah Stein Lubrano has a background in feminist, mutual aid, and other local organising as well as teaching in prisons. She holds a PhD from the University of Oxford and a Master’s degree from the University of Cambridge. Her thinking often reaches the public through the Sense and Solidarity Initiative and the Future Narratives Lab. She was previously the Head of Content at The School of Life and wrote obituaries. She regularly appears on public radio and a variety of podcasts. Her first book is, Don’t Talk About Politics: Changing 21st Century Minds is out now with Bloomsbury.
Documentary filmmakers working on socially engaged projects are accustomed to thinking about impact in terms of reach: funders, festivals, audiences. But getting people to watch is not the same as changing what they believe—and changing what they believe is not the same as changing the world. Researcher and author Sarah Stein Lubrano studies how people actually change their minds, and her findings challenge many assumptions about how art and politics intersect. In this workshop, she will introduce filmmakers to key theories of power and political change, drawing on her research into cognitive dissonance and political communication. Then she will guide attendees to pressure-test and refine their own theory of change for the work we make.
Facilitator: Sarah Stein Lubrano (Don't Talk About Politics: How to Change 21st-Century Minds)
Moderator: Pulkit Datta (Tikkun Olam Productions)
Biographies (submitted by the speakers):
Pulkit Datta is a producer, director, and film programmer, based in New York. Over fifteen years, he has worked on a wide range of scripted films, documentaries, commercials, short films, music videos and multimedia campaigns. His films have screened at festivals such as Toronto, Tribeca, Atlanta, Fantasia, LAAPFF, Cleveland, and OutFest. As a producer with Tikkun Olam Productions, he has co-produced the feature documentary ISRAELISM (Big Sky, CPH:Dox, Brooklyn Film Festival), and produced the climate activism doc series VS. GOLIATH (SeriesFest, DC/DOX) and video podcast BEYOND ISRAELISM (Zeteo). Pulkit is also a producer on the fiction feature JERSEY BOY, doc feature HOOP LIKE THIS, and previously INVISIBLE (Amazon Prime, Tubi), and the short documentary DO WE BELONG? (The Atlantic, 2018 IDA Doc Award shortlist). Pulkit has been a Producing Fellow at Center for Asian American Media as well as Impact Partners, and is an alum of Gotham Project Market.
Dr Sarah Stein Lubrano has a background in feminist, mutual aid, and other local organising as well as teaching in prisons. She holds a PhD from the University of Oxford and a Master’s degree from the University of Cambridge. Her thinking often reaches the public through the Sense and Solidarity Initiative and the Future Narratives Lab. She was previously the Head of Content at The School of Life and wrote obituaries. She regularly appears on public radio and a variety of podcasts. Her first book is, Don’t Talk About Politics: Changing 21st Century Minds is out now with Bloomsbury.
