WE RISE

Produced by Anna Marie Angeloni and Petol Weekes

WE RISE is a documentary about the impact of The Women's March on January 21st, 2017 on the lives of a group of marchers that include women, men, teens, and children, who with fire in their bellies raised their voices to make a difference.  Three years later, is that fire still ablaze in their lives? We would like to find out, but we need your help to make it happen.

We signed up for The Women's March on Washington, DC, fully intending to do more than attend the rally and march down Pennsylvania Avenue. We decided to document our experience and turn our camera towards our fellow marchers; women, men, and children, to discover what motivated them to leave their homes and take to the streets. With this mission in mind, we headed to Washington, DC.

On January 21st, 2017, at 6:30 am, we boarded the Metro from Maryland and headed to The Women’s March. A few minutes after boarding, we met and interviewed Patrick and Debbie, who were on their way to the march armed with protest signs. As they shared with us their motivation and what they hoped to accomplish by taking to the streets, we knew we were on the right path.

Throughout the day, we filmed the inspiring rally and the boisterous procession along Pennsylvania Avenue. We interviewed women, men, teens, and children. Here are some of their stories: Two Muslim families shared their hopes, and fears of living in a country that treats them as terrorists. We spoke to a six-year-old child heartbroken over the horrid treatment of her Mexican BFF by their classmate.

We interviewed college students who marched to support the women and to challenge politicians to leave their offices and walk among the people. A mom and her twelve-year-old daughter marched for equal treatment for all, especially for the LGBT group at her daughter's school. And a father with his three daughters who marched to teach them about standing up for what is right, and not to sit back and let others fight for them.

We concluded our Women's March experience with a round table debrief with our group of friends. As each shared their take on The March, one thing was obvious; the fire, first lit with outrage, shock, fear, and anger gave way to passion and activism. This renewed fierce activism forged a unity never before imagined among women and men of different races, ages, cultures, and continents.

Throughout this process, we have been driven by the belief that, while the Women's March certainly has had an immediate and positive effect on the participants, the long-term impact upon both them and their communities would inevitably be great and powerful. Therefore, the next stage of our project is to revisit the same people for part two of WE RISE, in which we ask:
How have these women, men, teens, and children risen since that incredible day in Washington DC? Was this just a powerful one-time experience? Or was it the catalyst that continues to motivate them to fight for such passionate causes?

The answers to these questions go to the heart of what our film is about—a comprehensive understanding of what this amazing experience has been about and what it continues to mean not only for the individual participants but also for their groups and organizations, for their communities and for the world.As our participants live in different states such as New York, California, Texas, Maryland, DC, Florida, Massachusetts, Texas, and New Mexico we, must travel to re-interview them, and film the groups or organizations in which they serve.
Principal photography for part two of the documentary will take approximately two to three weeks.

To fund the production of We Rise, which includes: Filming part two, travel expenses,  editing, production team salaries, equipment,  publicity, and marketing among other expenses, we are seeking to raise $50,000 to complete 'We Rise’.
We will complete the interviews by the late fall of 2019 and finalize post-production by early 2020. We hope that you will take this journey with us as we rise.


Petol Weekes –Executive Producer and Cinematographer
Petol Weekes is the founder and producer of Glass Flower Films LLC, where she is currently producing the 'The My Take Show' web series. She has written, produced, and directed the short films ‘Loving Billy' and ‘Glass Flowers.’ She is currently producing the documentaries ‘In Their Footsteps' and ‘We Rise.' Previously she was the Line Producer of the award-winning short film ‘Metal Gear' for Orion Studios.Petol is also the owner of the Etsy soap store GFF Creative.

Anna Marie Angeloni -Executive Producer and Interviewer
Anna Marie Angeloni is Co-Founder and CEO of AdventurousBug, Corporation where, along with her business partner Pascale Gigon, sets the strategic vision, mobilizes resources along with her team to make AdventurousBug a leading community for women by challenging women to live their passion. She is a non-fiction writer and stage actress. Over twenty years of work experience in both business and creative fields has prepared her to take on new and ever-changing challenges. She is an outspoken advocate against child and domestic abuse, recently reciting a selected piece of her upcoming book on The MOTH produced by NPR and KCRW.