Film series spotlights Santa Rosa Women's March, bail system and health care

A documentary featuring last year's Women's March in Santa Rosa kicks off a film series Saturday at Congregation Shomrei Torah, sponsored by a members committee to promote social activism.

“Democracy is NOT a spectator sport” is the theme of the series that also covers the issues of bail in the criminal justice system and the case for a single-payer health care system.

“The Bail Trap” will be shown Feb. 24 and “Fix It” on March 17. The screenings are free, open to the public and start at 7 p.m. at the synagogue, at 2600 Bennett Valley Road.

“It's not just a feel-good thing,” said Bruce Berkowitz, co-chairman of the Santa Rosa congregation's Social Action Committee. “The goal of the program is to get people involved.”

Director Mischa Hedges will discuss the 30-minute film, “Women's March,” which spotlights the January 2017 marches in Santa Rosa, San Francisco, Oakland, Boston and Washington, D.C., at Saturday's screening. Santa Rosa march organizers Anne Kain and Anne McGivern will also attend.

The documentary, which explores the motivations of women participating in marches the day after President Donald Trump's inauguration, features Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, California Sen. Kamala Harris, both Democrats, writer-activist Gloria Steinem and Malkia Cyril, executive director of the Center for Media Justice.

Following the film, a panel of four local activists will describe their commitments and what others can do get involved. Panelists are: Karen D'Or, founder of Indivisible Sonoma County; Mariana Martinez, Santa Rosa Junior College trustee; Davin Cardenas, lead organizer, North Bay Organizing Project, and Padi Selwyn, co-founder, Preserve Rural Sonoma County.

“The Bail Trap” shows how the inability to post bail creates a “mass incarceration system” in the United States as low-income detainees, accused of a crime but not convicted, sit in jail for days, months and years, according to the film series flier.

“Fix It” examines what the flier calls America's “dysfunctional health care system” and its negative impact on the economy, businesses and physicians while “remaining unaffordable for a third of our citizens.”

The California Nurses Association has renewed a push for SB 562, a bill that would create a government-administered, single-payer system in California that was opposed by a coalition of health care workers and blocked last year by Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon.

This is the sixth season for the Social Action Committee's film series, which received an honorable mention award in 2015 from the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism.

In 2018, there is “a sense of urgency created by the current administration,” Berkowitz said. “So many things are under attack. There's no time to sit on the sidelines.”

For information on the film series, call 578-5519 or go online to cstsr.org.

You can reach Staff Writer Guy Kovner at 707-521-5457 or guy.kovner@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @guykovner.