Assemble

Five Questions with Brenda Coughlin

A committed change-maker, Brenda Coughlin is a producer, social justice seeker, unapologetic progressive, and self-described rabble-rouser.

As co-founder of the non-profit media company Civic Bakery with Anthony Arnove, she established the Impact Producers Group and Impact Socials, the group's monthly networking event for creative change-makers (with Borderline Media.)

Brenda is a producer of the documentary feature film Dirty Wars (2013), which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival where it won the Cinematography Award for U.S. Documentary. IFC Films | Sundance Selects released ‘Dirty Wars’ in theaters throughout North America in June 2013. The film has gone on to receive critical acclaim, including nominations for the Cinema Eye Honors and the Writers Guild Awards, as well as being voted onto the documentary shortlist for the 2014 Academy Awards.

Coughlin is also a producer of ‘The People Speak’ documentary project, with Howard Zinn, Chris Moore, Josh Brolin, Anthony Arnove, and Matt Damon. The original US special (2009) is the film companion to Howard Zinn’s bestselling book ‘A People’s History of the United States’ and its primary source companion, ‘Voices of a People’s History’. ‘The People Speak’ premiered on the History Channel in December 2009. International commissions include an original production in the United Kingdom, co-directed by Colin Firth and broadcast on AETN UK in October 2010, and a second original production in Australia broadcast on Foxtel in December 2012. With the historian Howard Zinn, she co-founded the non-profit organization ‘Voices of a People’s History’, which runs performing arts and education programs in communities and schools through the United States.

For the last fifteen years, Coughlin has worked with non-profits and U.S. foundations supporting progressive causes and has been part of social justice movements in a range of areas, from prison abolition to antiwar organizing. Coughlin was a Sundance Creative Producing Lab Fellow in 2012. She has a MA in Sociology from Columbia University, and is a graduate of Harvard University.

We caught up with this remarkable woman, and asked her five short questions.  Her responses – as expected -  are illuminating!

Assemble: What is your first memory of filmmaking?
Brenda Coughlin: I came to filmmaking much later in my working life. So my first memory is sitting in a bar with the crew for The People Speak, two days before shooting began, and reveling in how generous they all were to let a newbie like myself into all their plans. It was the experience of a lifetime.

A: If you weren't a filmmaker, what do you think you would be?
BC: Even as a filmmaker, I do so many other different kinds of work. When I can't tell a story in a film, there's also books, plays, protests, photographs, and so many other mediums at our disposal.

A:  What has been your biggest challenge, as a filmmaker?
BC: Being patient.

A: What are you most proud of, in the films you've produced?
BC: I'm most proud of the camaraderie and solidarity with the cast and crew on all The People Speak productions. Everyone was there because they wanted to be part of something important, real, and more than themselves. On Dirty Wars, I'm most proud that we were able to help challenge, in however small a way, the endless wars and senseless destruction of the U.S.-led "War on Terror."

A: If you could guide a generation of filmmakers with just one sentence,  what would that sentence be?
BC: Keep the faith, and stick it to The Man.

 

--

LEARN MORE

Posted: 27th Aug 2014

Back to Listing

Categories