Featured Cross-platform Micro-Docs & Rapid-Responses

CONVERSATION SERIES | Sh*t Talks: Studio Sessions is the third season of Chicago Votes' popular Sh*t Talks series, part of their multifaceted Sh*t Talks programming and larger Give A Sh*t Collective (or GAS). The program works to inspire young people to vote and become powerful agents of transformational change by developing a unified narrative and distributing that narrative in an engaging, fun, and authentic way (photo by Hannah Linsky).

RAPID RESPONSES | The Final 5 Campaign is dedicated to the closure of the final five youth prisons in Illinois. Placing a high value on community investment and youth leadership, our campaign has the power to reduce the number of youth in Illinois prisons to zero (photo by Aidan Kranz).

MICRO-DOC SERIES | The "We Are More" campaign centers the experiences of incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people, and pushes back against fear-mongering “tough on crime” rhetoric resurging in the 2022 election season. We need more pathways out of prison, not new ones into it. Through advocacy, public education, and direct representation, the Illinois Prison Project brings hope to and fight in community with incarcerated people and their loved ones for a brighter, more humane, more just system for us all (photo by Karina Mireya).

Sh*t Talks: Studio Sessions

The Final 5 Campaign

"We Are More"

MICRO-DOC | #EraseTheDatabase is a campaign to abolish and repair the harm caused by Chicago’s gang database. “Gang Database” is the name used for the maintenance of information about an individual’s suspected relationship to gangs maintained by the Chicago Police Department (CPD). It is inaccurate. It leads to horrible outcomes for individuals and communities. It is inherently and systemically racist. It is an expansion of the police state and ICE. It needs to be abolished. Yesterday (photo by Jalen Hamilton).

MICRO-DOC | The Obama Community Benefits Agreement Coalition of organizations to ensure that the upcoming Obama Presidential Center builds South Side communities and not cause further displacement (photo by Hannah Linksky).

PSA | The 2020 Census is a headcount done every ten years by the U.S. government and the Census Bureau that determines where resources go. It's how the government determines the amount of funding and political power communities receive. An accurate count is immensely important, particularly to vulnerable and disenfranchised groups that are historically undercounted, thus less resources and representation. Federal Law protects our privacy as census takers, including immigrants, refugees, and the undocumented.

Erase the Database

Obama CBA

Census 2020

SAW projects mainly fall under two buckets: micro-docs and rapid-responses. Micro-docs are 4-10 minute campaign- and experience-based short documentaries while rapid-responses are 1-4 minute acute calls to action. Though film and visually based, most SAW projects also have a related podcast episode, editorial article, and/or programming component that explores the campaign, topic, or grassroots effort further. Watch, listen, read, and interact with our featured cross-platform, multimedia projects.

Other SAW Campaigns & Collaborations

Other Film Work

<< crossroads fund

Film + TV >>

<< Judge's Matter: Dump Matt Coghlan

Narrative & Commercial PSAs >>

2 0 2 0   U P R I S I N G S   &   D E F U N D   C P D

From moment to movement. Since the murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020, cities globally, especially and including Chicago, rose up to demand an end to police violence and white supremacy. Not only was the government standing by as COVID-19 ravaged Black, Latinx, Indigenous, houseless, and other marginalized communities inciting mass Black death with their calls to "reopen the economy" by any means, but the police, other state authorities, and racist vigilantes continued to brazenly hunt and kill Black folks while they sleep in their beds and on open roads in broad daylight.  This was a breaking point.

Words by Damon Williams, Editing by Sensitive Visuals, Photos by Love & Struggle Photos, Music by Rebel Diaz, Footage by SoapBox & Equals 4 Media

More on #defundcpd >>

More on the 2020 Uprisings >>

Header photo by Dakota Sillyman. Photo above by Thoughtpoet.

R A P I D - R E S P O N S E   A C T I O N S
​D U R I N G   C O V I D - 1 9   L O C K D O W N S

​We protest the genocidal policies of government that have allowed city and county jails, federal and state prisons, juvenile detention jails, and immigrant detention centers to become hotbeds for COVID-19 infections and death camps for millions. We also fight for a #RightToRecovery so that people can get the economic, social, and political power to sustain themselves and their communities during the pandemic, not subsidize large corporations that exploit for profit. The End IL Prison Lockdown (now the Coalition to Decarcerate IL) (left); Assata's Daughters, Liberation Library, American Friends Service Committee (Chicago), Chicago Freedom School (middle); and several organizations including the Obama CBA Coalition (right) gathered for multiple actions demanding more. Let's not go back to normal.

End IL Prison Lockdown

#FreeThemAllBlockParty

#RightToRecovery Caravan

More COVID-19 Rapid-Response Organizing >>

Photo below by Caullen Hudson.

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"Write yourself into history. Not because you're vain, but because you're important, your work is important, you're building off the work of your ancestors, and someone will be building off of yours." 
MARIAME KABA | Organizer, Educator, and Curator