Philadelphia's Free Speech Film Festival encourages filmmakers to speak out against injustice. Championing different perspectives and listening to other opinions is vital to the future of democracy!
Each year, one film is selected as our Free Speech Award Winner by audiences around the world, as well as by residents of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: a "cradle of liberty” for decades before the American Revolution.
The 2022 Free Speech Award Ceremony will take place at Cliveden of the National Trust in honor of the 300th anniversary of the birth of its owner, Pennsylvania Chief Justice Benjamin Chew Esq (1722-1810), and his contributions to Free Speech, Human Rights, and the Rule of Law.
Our all-day multimedia hybrid event will feature historians, legal scholars, and community leaders speaking about Benjamin Chew, in addition to a showcase of the final six Official Selection films, a screening of the 2022 Free Speech Award-Winning film, and an in-depth discussion with its filmmaker. All of these events will be recorded and featured in perpetuity on our websites below.
The Free Speech Film Festival is unique in several respects:
A cash prize of $1,000 goes to the Free Speech Award-Winning filmmaker!
Our educational, hybrid Free Speech Award Ceremony showcases 6 Official Selection trailers, our final Free Speech Award-Winning film, and an in-depth interview with its Director.
All of our Free Speech Award-Winning films (and their filmmakers) will be promoted over American INSIGHT’s daily Newsfeed for a period of one year, and across all of our social media outlets. Students participating in our new "Make History Every Day!" online course will write about them for years to come..
Our annual Free Speech Award-Winner, and all of our Official Selection filmmakers, are interviewed for our educational Free Speech Spotlight Blog; and their films will be featured on the Free Speech Film Festival 's website in perpetuity.
Discover more here:
https://freespeechfilmfestival.org/blog/
https://freespeechfilmfestival.org/2021-festival-highlights
https://freespeechfilmfestival.org/award-winners
The Free Speech Film Festival culminates in an online multimedia Free Speech Award Ceremony that features the final Free Speech Award-Winning film and its filmmakers.
Past Award-Winners and guest speakers include:
Maya Sanbar, 2021 Free Speech Award WINNER
https://freespeechfilmfestival.org/2021-festival-highlights/
Wanjiru Njendu, 2020 Free Speech Award WINNER https://freespeechfilmfestival.org/2020-festival-highlights/
Robert Greenwald, 2019 Free Speech Award WINNER https://www.bravenewfilms.org/suppressed
Team Enough, 2018 Free Speech Award WINNER
https://www.teamenough.org/
Abby Huntsman, American television personality and former co-host of ABC’s The View.
David Kilgour, human rights defender, author, former lawyer and Canadian politician, remains continuously vocal on many human rights violations around the world
Reggie Shuford, Executive Director, ACLU Philadelphia
Anne-Marie Slaughter, President and CEO of New America; University Professor Emerita of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University
Ben Wizner, Director, American Civil Liberties Union’s Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project
Samuel Zhou, Deputy Director, Global Internet Freedom Consortium
Michael Perlman, Producer/ Executive Producer of American INSIGHT's 2012 Free Speech Film Festival Award winning film “Free China: The Courage to Believe,” and Amnesty International official Artist For Amnesty
Discover more:
https://freespeechfilmfestival.org
https://americaninsight.org