Not even one month has passed since Academy Awards were handed out for films like "Get Out" (Best Original Screenplay), "A Fantasic Woman" (Best Foreign Film), and "The Silent Child" (Best Live-Action Short). Each one of these films, and many of the other nominees, are showing Hollywood that audiences want excellent stories told by and about women, people of color, trans people and differently-abled people to name but a few in the range of our expressed identities. Audiences already know what Hollywood is just figuring out - movies that look and sound like us are not only entertaining and profitable, they have the ability to change social norms because these stories humanize, destigmatize, and make us empathize.

The next batch of what are sure to be award winners next year are hitting the festival circuit now. In San Francisco, the 2018 International Film Festival starts on April 4, running through to April 17. Many of the fiction feature films as well as the documentary films in SFFILM's program are about topics MomsRising members not only care about, but are actively working to make policy change. Here are some of the films and documentaries to come see (if you live in SF Bay Area!) and to keep an eye out hitting your local theaters and streaming services this year:

Tre Maison Dasan
Documentary
Tre, Maison, and Dasan are three boys who all share something in common – one of their parents is in jail.
Topics: mass incarceration, maternal justice, education

Night Comes On
Feature Film
From female director Jordana Spiro, the story of Angel Angel, just out of juvenile detention, and her sister, currently in a foster home. Angel is determined to confront her father about their past, while her sibling needs her to stay out of trouble so they can build on their bond.
Topics: women, mass incarceration

A Kid Like Jake
Feature Film
While at first encouraged to play up their son’s possible transgender leanings so he might be considered a “diverse” candidate for a progressive school, the parents begin a round of self-questioning once Jake begins acting out when confronted with bullies and teachers looking for more normative behavior. (Starring Claire Danes, Jim Parsons, Octavia Spencer)
Topics: healthy kids, education

Won't You Be My Neighbor? 
Documentary Film
Fred Rogers was an unusual television personality. Morgan Neville’s unexpectedly moving portrait of the seminarian turned TV pioneer tells the story of his decades-long run on the small screen, deploying a trove of archival material to illustrate what made his shows unique while gently evoking larger questions about television, childhood, kindness, and how we treat our neighbors.
Topics: healthy kids, education, politics and policy