Not Scary Movies – Our watch list for the pre-election weekend

With Halloween and the election happening less than a week apart, we found it apropos to share a curated watch list to help you overcome the scaries. Grab that pumpkin spice latte and a group of friends, family, or colleagues, and open yourself up to reframing how we think about our divisions. Regardless of who wins the election, we selected a list of movies that provide a roadmap to reconciliation and mending. As storytellers and citizens, we hope these films inspire you to refocus narratives on what’s possible as a nation that embraces our differences – new American Stories of Us. 

We’ve been proud to partner with many of these films and directors, who are invaluable contributors to our community. 

Pass this watch list along to spark connections and conversations. 

Join or Die

This feature documentary, follows the half-century story of America’s civic unraveling through the journey of legendary social scientist Robert Putnam, whose groundbreaking “Bowling Alone” research into America’s decades-long decline in community connections could hold the answers to our democracy’s present crisis. Flanked by influential fans and scholars — from Hillary Clinton, Pete Buttigieg, Mike Lee, and Surgeon General Vivek Murthy to Eddie Glaude Jr., Raj Chetty, and Priya Parker — as well as inspiring groups building community in neighborhoods across the country, join Bob as he explores three urgent civic questions: What makes democracy work? Why is American democracy in crisis? And, most importantly… What can we do about it? By highlighting the role of clubs in fostering belonging, trust, and civic engagement, Join or Die shows how these community connections are key to restoring both dignity and democracy.

Will & Harper

When Will Ferrell finds out his close friend of 30 years, Harper, is coming out as a trans woman, they embark on a cross-country road trip (a favorite pastime of Harper’s) to navigate this new stage of their friendship. The story is a journey of reorientation and how relationships with people and places change over time. The film embodies the power of empathy and connection and shows how, defying expectations, small-town America can embrace Harper for who she is.

  • Director: Josh Greenbaum
  • Trailer
  • Available on: Netflix

The American Question

The American Question delves into the heart of a divided America, exploring the historical and contemporary factors that have eroded our trust in our neighbors, communities, institutions, and government. The film takes viewers on a journey from historical empires to pivotal moments in modern America, through an independent team’s eight-year mission to discover the forces that shaped our now divided society. The American Question seeks to answer the pressing question: how can America reconcile its seemingly competing values of individual freedom and protecting the common good to restore trust among its people? 

His Three Daughters

The film follows three estranged sisters, confined in a small New York apartment as they tend to their dying father, creating an intimate setting where tensions rise, truths are uncovered, and long-held assumptions are dismantled. Shifting perspectives unfold in real-time, demonstrating that even though we may assume we know someone’s story, there is often far more beneath the surface. 

  • Director: Azazel Jacobs
  • Trailer 
  • Available on: Netflix

Leap of Faith

Twelve diverse Christian leaders find hope and fellowship at a series of boundary-breaking retreats in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Brought together by Michael Gulker of The Colossian Forum, five women and seven men struggle with some of today’s most contentious issues. The divisions between them become apparent and test both their common belief in the universal importance of love and kindness and the bonds they build over the course of a year. 

  • Director: Nicholas Ma
  • Producer: Morgan Neville (Piece by Piece, Won’t You Be My Neighbor)
  • Trailer
  • Available in Select Theaters 
  • For Cities and Resources: https://leapoffaithmovie.com/

Public Enemies, Private Friends

On December 30, 1994, a man entered two abortion clinics in Brookline, MA. By day’s end, two women were dead, five wounded, and a community was left mourning. Thus began a clandestine dialogue between leaders of the pro-choice and pro-life movements that lasted for six years and was the beginning of the most unlikely friendship. While neither group changed their deeply held beliefs, these talks demonstrated what happens when we open ourselves and build trust and friendship across our lines of difference. 

Faces of X

If you wanted to teach the internet how to transcend binary thinking, what would you do? Faces of X is one answer to that question. Faces of X is a series of short videos that integrate different perspectives on divisive social issues — like abortion, gender, and race. 

A Case for Love

A healing response to our social and political divide. With the upcoming elections fueling tensions and the world feeling like it is split between right vs. left or us vs. them, is unselfish love the answer? Watch the Case for Love film team travel across the US and interview politicians, celebrities, and random people on the street, discussing where they’ve witnessed unselfish love and where they’ve seen its absence. Featuring Bishop Michael Curry, Al Roker, Sam Waterston, Pete Buttigieg, John Danforth.

Do you have your own suggestions to add to this list? Tag us on social! 

As we prepare for a time of even greater divisiveness and turbulence, BEL reminds storytellers that you serve an unparalleled role in our nation to tether the American fabric back together. 

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