ABOUT PROGRESSIVE FILMS

Progressive Films is a film distribution company, founded by documentary filmmaker Casey Peek, creator of Eyes on the Fries, Trade Secrets and New World Border. With the goal of providing a central location for progressive producers to disseminate their work, the site was launched in September of 2004. Since then, Progressive Films has been steadily adding new titles.

Progressive Films distributes films and videos, both narrative and documentary, which offer a progressive perspective, promote human rights and are created to advance social justice, multiracial equality and environmental sustainability.

If you would like to work with Progressive Films to distribute your own film or video, please contact us by e-mail at: info@progressivefilms.org

A seven-member review board reviews the films and makes recommendations regarding the items offered for sale on the Progressive Films website. The review board is composed of individuals working in a variety of fields, such as labor rights, migration, film and video, civil liberties, education, music and the arts. Several of the members are also contributing filmmakers and artists. Currently, the board includes the following members:

Ernest Davis, Jr., a musician and actor, has worked with Peek Media over the last few years as a consultant and vocal talent on various documentaries. A UCLA graduate, Ernest has worked with children over the last thirteen years and been a music therapist for children with disabilities the last five.

A singer/songwriter hailing from Reno, Nevada, Ernest combines acoustic guitar and electronics with introspective and cathartic lyrics to create a unique modern rock sound reminiscent of Coldplay, James Blunt, Depeche Mode and The Killers in his solo project, Striking Ghosts. He plans to release music under this moniker in the summer of 2006. More information is available at www.strikingghosts.com and www.myspace.com/strikingghosts.

Eunice Hyunhye Cho is the BRIDGE Project Coordinator at the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, where she coordinates the organization's educational work. She is the editor and co-author of "BRIDGE: Building a Race and Immigration Dialogue in the Global Economy--A Popular Education Resource for Immigrant and Refugee Communities". She co-coordinated NNIRR's campaign to bring grassroots immigrant leaders to the UN World Conference Against Racism, and co-authored and edited "From the Borderline to the Colorline: A Report on Anti-Immigrant Racism in the U.S." and "A World on the Move: A Report from the UN World Conference Against Racism." She is a board member of the Committee on Women, Population, and the Environment, and she drums and chants with Jamaesori: SisterSound, a Korean American women's drumming group. She is a graduate of Yale University with a degree in American Studies and Ethnicity, Race, and Migration Studies.

Dr. Irum Shiekh, a filmmaker and an Ethnic Studies scholar has been researching the topics of September 11, representations of race and gender, and internment of Japanese-Latin Americans through art and writing over the last eight years. Her dissertation entitled "September 11 Detentions: Racial Formation and a Hegemonic Discourse of Muslim Terrorist" uses theories of racial formations and hegemony to illustrate the racialization of Muslims before and after 9/11. Her work addressing issues of gender and 9/11 detentions was published in The Subcontinenial. Kent University Press is publishing her article entitled 9/11 Deportees and Images of the United States. Additional publications dealing with 9/11 detentions and prison abuse are forthcoming. Dr. Shiekh's latest documentary about the Japanese-Latin American internment during World War II entitled, Hidden Internment: The Art Shibayama Story has been widely shown at film festivals and conferences. Currently, she is writing a book including oral histories of people detained after 9/11 and confined at the Metropolitan Detention Center, New York.

Jeremy Blasi is currently a field representative at the Worker Rights Consortium (WRC), an organization based in Washington DC dedicated to ensuring that the rights of garment workers around the world are respected. He has had a long interest in documentary film making. While working at the UC Berkeley Labor Center, Jeremy produced the films, "Trade Secrets: Hidden Costs of the FTAA" and "Eyes on the Fries: Young Workers in the Service Economy". Both films were a product of collaboration with Progressive Film's Casey Peek. Jeremy is a graduate of UC Berkeley.

Jose Palafox was born in Tijuana, Mexico, and grew up in San Diego, California. As a musician, he played drums in the 1990s political hardcore punk band Struggle, who released records on Ebullition Records, as well as in the Swing Kids on Three One G Records. He later played in Bread and Circuits and Yaphet Kotto. In 2005, he and Mike Kirsch started a new project called "Baader Brains," a tribute to the 1970s German urban guerrilla group, the Red Army Faction (RAF) and also to the Baader Meinhof Group. His film and writing have focused on issues of migration, specifically relating to the US-Mexico border and its militarization. In 2001, he was the associate producer of the 28 minute documentary "New World Border." He has also published articles in Covert Action Quarterly, ColorLines, Z Magazine, Borderlines, SF Bay Guardian, and Maximum RocknRoll. Jose has also has taught in Chicano/Latino Studies and Sociology at UC Berkeley, Stanford University, Mills College, UC Santa Cruz and University of San Francisco.

Shannon Erby is currently a candidate for the California Secondary Teaching Credential in Social Sciences. She attends San Francisco State University and plans to earn a Masters in Multi-Cultural and Equity Education after completing the Credential program. As an avid reader, her passion is the "voice of the people" and she hopes to be able to teach everything that most textbooks omit: the voices of women of color, immigrants, and children. Previously, Shannon worked with Planned Parenthood Golden Gate, where she directed a peer education program for Oakland teens and also taught sex education at middle and high schools throughout the Bay Area. Shannon also plays the tambor and has been an active part of the Aztec Dance Community for the past six years-she belongs to Mixcoatl Anahauc in San Francisco.

Dharini Rasiah has worked as a filmmaker, media activist and teacher in the Bay Area since 1992. She currently works in a number of media organizations: she is a full-time video teacher and coordinator of the media program for Communication Arts and Sciences at Berkeley High School. She has also worked as a graduate student instructor/video lab instructor at UC Berkeley in the Department of Ethnic Studies since 1994; she is a master teacher for KQED, teaching video production workshops for Bay Area teachers; and she serves on the board of Berkeley Community Media. Born in Sri Lanka and raised in England, Canada and California, she is particularly concerned about the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka and explores issues surrounding the experiences of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees. She produces independent documentaries and works with local filmmakers and non-profit community organizations to produce videos and organize film festivals. Her interest is to use media as a tool for social change.

If you would like to work with Progressive Films to distribute your own film or video, please contact us by e-mail at: info@progressivefilms.org

You can also reach us by telephone at: 510-644-2466.