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GO PUBLIC Wins Honorable Mention

We are pleased to announce that GO PUBLIC won Honorable Mention at the 2016 Pasadena International Film Festival (PIFF) in March.  The film opened the festival screening at the Laemmle Theater in Pasadena, CA followed by a Q & A with the filmmakers and local educator, Dr. Abrahamson. GO PUBLIC has […]

Colleges and Universities Continue to GO PUBLIC

GO PUBLIC is being screened in colleges and universities across the country. Education departments are incorporating the film as curriculum in classes and utilizing the college discussion guide as a helpful resource. Colleges are also sponsoring community screenings, which engage the larger community in the critical conversation about […]

Library Journal Recommends GO PUBLIC

We recently discovered this terrific review of GO PUBLIC by Library Journal. “This film is the exciting result of the Go Public Project, which sent 50 filmmakers into 28 schools in the Pasadena, CA, School District on the same day to capture the life of an American school […]

Realtors: Helping to Change Misperceptions

Realtors influence the perception of local public schools.  They are often the first contact for many people considering a move into a new city. Unfortunately, as is the case in Pasadena, realtors often repeat misinformation without having an up-to-date, accurate understanding about how the local public schools are […]

World Channel Adds GO PUBLIC to their American Graduate Collection

GO PUBLIC will once again air nationally on Public Televisions’s World Channel, September 27 – October 2 as part of their American Graduate Collection. World Channel presents a “week of documentaries that bring to focus the continuing challenges facing students, parents, teachers and administrators. Inspired by the American Graduate: Let’s Make […]

GO PUBLIC on PBS Stations Nationwide

GO PUBLIC is currently airing on PBS stations across the nation.  Since its PBS debut, GO PUBLIC has aired 650 times, on 232 channels, in 40 states and 115 markets. IF YOU DON’T SEE YOUR LOCAL STATION LISTED…CALL AND REQUEST THEY AIR GO PUBLIC! We will keep our […]

GO PUBLIC Hosts National Webcast

GO PUBLIC in conjunction with Pasadena City College co-sponsored a live webcast entitled, Myth or Reality: Public Education is Broken and Must Be Fixed.  In studio guests included: Superintendent/President of Pasadena City College, Jon Gundry, Superintendent of the Pasadena Unified School District, William Wong, Gabrielino High School Math Teacher […]

American Film Showcase Selection

GO PUBLIC was honored to be an AMERICAN FILM SHOWCASE (AFS) selection.  The USC School of Cinematic Arts sponsors the program funded by a major grant from the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA).  In concert with a panel of filmmakers, academics and festival organizers, […]

Edutopia Honors GO PUBLIC

We are very honored to announce that GO PUBLIC was selected by Edutopia as one of the five best educational documentaries of the past two years.  Special congratulations to our editor, Jeff Johns, for being named Best Editor! He did an incredible job of weaving 350+ hours of […]

New Haven, Denver, McLean & Greensboro

These are just a few of the places that the GO PUBLIC film has screened or will screen: Connecticut, California, Colorado, Virginia, Iowa, Illinois, North Carolina, New York.  The GO PUBLIC film is resonating with communities across the U.S.  The next screening is in Greensboro, North Carolina on […]

GO PUBLIC Benefit Screening on Jan. 22

Pasadena Educational Foundation (PEF) is hosting a TUGG benefit screening of GO PUBLIC on Wednesday, January 22nd (please see details below). This screening is raising funds for PEF’s signature Teacher Grants program. Funding for the program was previously underwritten by banking institutions that no longer exist. All donations […]

Reclaim the Promise of Public Education

December 9th was “National Day of Action” to “Reclaim the Promise of Public Education”, a day of recommitment to public schools—our nation’s gateway to democracy and racial and economic justice. GO PUBLIC screened in New Haven, Connecticut as part of their call to action to create a new […]

American Education Week: NEA and GO PUBLIC

The NEA is encouraging people to sponsor screenings of GO PUBLIC as part of their American Education Week celebration. And we are encouraging our GO PUBLIC followers to take the American Education Week pledge. Do you want smaller class sizes for students, professional respect for educators, and the […]

GO PUBLIC Screens at NEA Student Conference

Friday, November 8th at 9PM, GO PUBLIC screened at the NEA Student Connections Conference in Las Vegas, NV.  We were honored to have been asked to share the film and lead a Q&A following the screening.  Students attended from more than 60 colleges representing over 30 states.  The […]

President’s Innovation Award

We were very honored to have recently received the Presidents Innovation Award at the Burbank International Film Festival.  Fritz Coleman was on hand to present us with the award and it was a wonderful opportunity for us to once again share the GO PUBLIC message that public education […]

GO PUBLIC Goes Public Across the Nation!

GO PUBLIC has now screened or will screen in Iowa, Illinois, New York, North Carolina and California.  College libraries are purchasing the film for their education departments including Kent State, UNC at Chapel Hill, American University, Knox College, Westmont College and Loyola Marymount University.   We are very […]

Named Best Documentary at Catalina Film Festival

We are pleased to share that GO PUBLIC: A Day in the Life of an American School District won Best Documentary at the Catalina Film Festival. We are very honored to have received this award.  

Official Selection at the Catalina Film Festival

We are pleased to share that GO PUBLIC: A Day in the Life of an American School District, is an official selection at the Catalina Film Festival, September 18-22 and will screen on Saturday at 1PM.    

GO PUBLIC Screens in Harlem

The Reel Resistance Film Series in Harlem recently screened seven of the GO PUBLIC short films followed by a community conversation. Elias Holtz shared this enthusiastic recap of the evening. “Our screening went great! We had a gathering of teachers, parents, Harlem community members, current and former students, […]

Who is the Target Audience for GO PUBLIC?

We have been asked the question, “Who exactly is your target audience for the GO PUBLIC film?” Our target audience is people who are bombarded with negative media reports and believe that public education is broken.  Our target audience is people who don’t support their local public schools […]

GO PUBLIC: ‘Antidote’ to War on Public Schools

In an Op/Ed piece published on Truthout.com, Dr. Peter Dreier, chair of the Urban and Environmental Policy Department at Occidental College, brings to light the big money behind many well-publicized attacks on public education and offers GO PUBLIC: A Day in the Life of an American School District as “a welcome […]

Get Involved. Get Inspired.
GO PUBLIC!

The following post was contributed by Robert Niles, whose son Brian was one of the GO PUBLIC student directors.  If all you know about public schools comes from reading newspaper headlines, all you’d think today’s public school students do is take standardized tests. While my children, who do […]

Screening June 13 in Pasadena

The Conscientious Projector film series will be screening the GO PUBLIC feature documentary June 13, 2013 at 7:00pm at the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena. Admission is free and open to the public. From the Conscientious Projector announcement: One year ago, 50 small film crews followed […]

Sparking A Dialogue

Four of the GO PUBLIC shorts were screened at the High Falls Film Festival followed by a panel discussion with education experts from the area. The panel discussion was moderated by Susan Rogers, Executive VP and General Manager of WXXI, the local PBS Station, and the panel included: […]

Jeff Johns

Farewell to our Editor

One month before our May 8, 2012 filming date, we made the wise decision to hire Jeff Johns as, not only one of our field directors, but also as the editor for the GO PUBLIC feature film.   From the get go, Jeff had an ability to handle […]

A Shared Community Value

Pasadena has long been a tale of two cities with 35-40% of the communities children attending private schools. Of the students who attend public school, the majority (65-70%) are considered lower socio-economic status (SES).    Groups like the Pasadena Educational Foundation (PEF), Pasadena Education Network (PEN) and Invest […]

What Drives the GO PUBLIC Team?

I just read an article called “Changing the National Narrative About Public Schools…Next Steps” that provides a great overview of much of what has motivated the GO PUBLIC Project team throughout our journey. In particular, it stresses the importance of public education to all Americans, the need for […]