“#whilewewatch”: First Definitive Doc of #OccupyWallStreet Emerges?
Tonight, at 8pm EST, a documentary calling itself “the first definitive film to emerge from Zuccotti Park,” “#whilewewatch,” will have its world premiere online at SnagFilms.com (Indiewire’s parent company). Made with “full access and cooperation from the masterminds who made #OccupyWallStreet a reality,” according to a press release, the film was directed by Kevin Breslin (“Living for 32″) and includes interviews with Priscilla Grim (a journalist with The Occupied Wall St Journal); Justin Wedes (an educator and activist), journalist and technologist Tim Pool and Jesse LaGreca from Daily Kos–who will also be on hand for a conversation at the Paley Center in New York. Though the trailer gives little insight into the film beyond the chaos of protest and police crackdowns, it looks like it will be a largely flattering portrait of the movement.
As Breslin said, in a statement, “Zuccotti Park was loud, dirty, wet, cold and exhilaratingly alive with passion and energy…Intelligence, imagination, information and raw emotion ruled every second!”
“The people in this film are genuinely decent,” added Breslin. “They all are immensely bright. They are kind, tough and loaded with the belief that this is what being an American citizen is about.”
According to a less than objective review at The Huffington Post, the film makes Mayor Bloomberg look like an arrogant, careless billionaire and and the NYPD appear like a bunch of thugs following orders. The film also addresses the mainstream media’s mantra that the mission of OWS was “vague” and “unclear,” and offers testimony to the contrary.
According to HuffPo, the film’s most disturbing moments are numerous scenes of “New York’s finest dragging, macing, and arresting the protesters for simply staying when they were told to leave.” One protestor comments, “We came in peace. The police showed up to riot.”
After tonight’s live screening, the film will return to the web on May 1st, OWS’s official spring May Day relaunch and national day of action, where it will be available on SnagFilms.com through Election Day, November 6th.
