4314
(1 vote, average 5.00 out of 5)
Written by Lisa Neff, Staff writer
Jan 27, 2012
Filmmaker Sam Mayfield is working on ''Wisconsin Rising,'' a feature-length documentary about the people's revolt against Gov. Scott Walker's anti-union initiative. Mayfield, a video journalist, also made ''Silenced Voices,'' a 2010 documentary about the death of a migrant farmworker. – Photo: Sam Mayfield
Through her lens, documentary filmmaker Sam Mayfield is going up close and personal to capture the impact that Gov. Scott Walker's union-busting budget bill has had on the lives of ordinary Wisconsinites.
"Wisconsin Rising" follows the historic events in Wisconsin that led up to the recent filing of more than one million signatures seeking to recall the governor. Mayfield says her film is about "the reanimation of the American labor movement" and the fight for justice.
A freelance video journalist from Burlington, Vt., Mayfield has reported for Democracy Now!, TheUptake, Free Speech TV and Toward Freedom.com. She's worked in places as distant as Palestine and as near as Madison, where last year she covered the battle over Walker's assault on organized labor for a Web publication.
In his State of the State address on Feb. 1, 2011, Walker announced that in the coming weeks he would offer a "budget repair bill."
"This is the right moment in time, our moment in time, to refocus government to better serve the taxpayers of this state," Walker said. "To do this, we must provide flexibility to our leaders at all levels. One area we will have to look at is public employee benefits."
Soon afterward, Walker sent the Legislature a measure largely stripping public employees of their collective bargaining rights. Democrats were first stunned and then outraged, particularly after GOP leadership rammed the bill through the Assembly without notice.
As Senate Democrats fled to Illinois to stall the bill in the Senate, protesters flooded into Madison. The largest demonstrations since the Vietnam War era surrounded the Capitol for weeks.
"The people of Wisconsin rose up, occupied their state Capitol and took to the streets," Mayfield said.
Senate Republicans used a series of parliamentary tricks to overcome a three-week stalemate and pass an amended version of the legislation. But the protests continued.
Ripples from the revolt were felt far beyond Madison. The events in Wisconsin helped spark the nationwide "We are the 99 percent" protests – the Occupy campaigns – that came later in 2011.
The first political casualties for Republicans came with last summer's recall of two Republican senators, leaving the GOP with a one-vote majority in that chamber. And on Jan. 18, activists with the United Wisconsin coalition filed petitions containing more than one million signatures seeking to recall Walker, nearly twice the number required.
Petitions were also filed to recall Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch and Sens. Scott Fitzgerald of Juneau, Pam Galloway of Wausau, Terry Moulton of Chippewa Falls and Van Wanggaard of Racine.
Petition signatures still must be verified and no date has been set for the election, which will likely be over the summer.
Mayfield said what she's witnessed in Wisconsin is "one state's rejection of a conservative take-over … a microcosm of what is at stake in America today, at a time of fiscal crisis and ideologically-driven budgets and social reforms."
When she arrived in Madison last March, Mayfield knew the magnitude of the issue. In addition to the GOP leaders in Wisconsin, Republican leaders in Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma and Tennessee were also trying to limit the role of labor unions and collective bargaining rights.
She completed the assignment that took her to Madison but continued to cover the story – or history. She attended news conferences, demonstrations, rallies, marches, sleep-ins and Walker's bill signing.
The journalist, who had planned to stay only a few days in the capital, stayed much longer. She went from lodging in a hotel to renting an apartment.
"I set up shop there," Mayfield said. "And I started traveling around the state."
Eventually she knew she had a documentary to make – "Wisconsin Rising."
Mayfield was touched by the people she met – teachers, nurses, custodians, firefighters.
"I've talked to so many people whose stories stand out," she said.
She recalled an interview with Elden Jelle, a state employee who said his earnings under Walker went from $15 an hour to $12, and the "intimate stories" of how that changed his life. In his early 60s, Jelle said he was probably going to need a second job.
Mayfield said government workers shared fears that they might have to leave their jobs, that benefits might be further reduced, that rights might be further eroded.
The "Wisconsin Rising" trailer begins with Walker signing the budget bill in March 2011 and then the statement, "With the stroke of his pen, Walker undid 50 years of collective bargaining rights."
Over mournful music, there are shouts of "Shame, shame, shame." One protester calls the legislation a total attack on a generation of people. Another demonstrator says young people were encouraged to enter "honorable professions and now they're getting screwed for it." A shot of the Capitol shows a banner that reads "FAX EAT THE RICH."
"I have shot 95 percent of the film," said the filmmaker, who probably will return to Wisconsin for extra footage later this year.
In January, Mayfield turned to Kickstarter.com, a funding service, to raise money for editing, copyright research and licensing, website construction, scoring and other post-production work. Online supporters pledged amounts from $1 to $5,000.
"Right now, all I am doing is fundraising," Mayfield said.
She hopes to travel the film fest circuit after completing the documentary.
And she hopes that completion will be this year, in advance of the general election. It's important, she said, because in a broader sense the film explores a fight to rescue a democracy from failure.
The premiere, Mayfield said, probably will be in Wisconsin. "I feel like it should," she said.
Crowd-funding cinema
Sam Mayfield's project got a boost in funding from Kickstarter.com.
Another project found on Kickstarter is L.A. filmmaker Ryan James Yezak's "Second Class Citizens," a broad-themed documentary about discrimination and harassment of LGBT people and the battle for equality and respect.
Yezak's 7-minute promo for "Second Class Citizens" contains archival footage of anti-gay propagandizing, news reports on teen suicides, commentary on civil rights campaigns and images of LGBT icons.
"There is far too much hate directed towards our community and I want to capture that hate on camera," Yezak said. "In addition, I want to explore where this hate comes from, why it continues to exist, and what we must do to get rid of it."
In less than 72 hours, Yezak raised more than $110,000 for the project.
For more information, go to www.kickstarter.com/projects/ryanjamesyezak/second-class-citizens-documentary.
