The 99%: Occupy Everywhere

This award-winning film, narrated by Lou Reed, has been broadcast on three US television stations including Participant Media's Pivot TV, Direct TV Link and Free Speech TV. The film documents how private money in politics has undermined democracy and transferred income from 99% of Americans to multinational corporations and the wealthy. Through personal stories of a diverse cross-section of Americans, the film highlights a movement that addresses critical issues of our time including income inequality, jobs, the environment, gun safety, criminal justice, access to health care and education, money in politics and the big banks' lack of accountability.

Economist Jeffrey Sachs connects the dots between the more just and sustainable future that many in the Movement want and feasible economic and political reforms that can get us there. Russell Simmons speaks of the necessity of fair taxation for corporations and wealthy individuals so that his secretary does not pay a higher tax rate than he and many corporations do.

Since the movement began and this film has been released, the national conversation surrounding these issues has expanded and solutions offered in this film are now advocated by large segments of society. Many of these solutions have been implemented into policy proposals and some have been made into law.

The film also highlights the importance of exercising our first amendment rights to gather peacefully and protest in order to remove money from politics and reclaim democracies from entrenched corporate influences as well as the renewed sense of community and empathy that is at the heart of the Movement.