MAKE A CIRCLE: Film Screening & Q&A

Winner of the 2024 DocLands Audience Award, MAKE A CIRCLE follows a group of child care providers who are determined to change how our society values the education of its youngest citizens. With a mix of humor, outrage, and passion, MAKE A CIRCLE captures the unfolding stories of Patricia, a leader of the California child care workers union, as she fights on behalf of a largely immigrant workforce; Charlotte, another union member who tirelessly lifts up the low-income families in her care; and Anne, the director of a large preschool, who finds novel ways to value and support her teachers when jobs at Starbucks are offering higher pay. Within their stories are interludes that offer a cinematic window into the unique, imaginative world of the young children in their care. The film culminates as thousands of child care union members march on their state capitol demanding better working conditions, just as their contract is set to expire. Weaving together the magic they create in the classroom, the struggles they endure at home, and their tireless activism for their profession, MAKE A CIRCLE is a moving portrait of life as an early childhood educator and a promising blueprint for fixing our broken child care system.

Please join the filmmakers and early educator film participants for an engaging Q&A around supporting our youngest Californians at the beginning of their educational journey.

This event is free thanks to member support. Please become a KALW member today and receive your first drink on us at all 220 Montgomery events.

See you there!

📍 220 Montgomery St., San Francisco, 2 blocks from BART/MUNI
🚪 Doors open at 6:00
🗣️ Show begins at 7:00
🍕 Free snacks
🍷 Refreshments for donation (and KALW members get their first one on the house)
🆓 The event is free with an RSVP — and you are welcome to donate what you want
🧸 Free child care available. If attending with your child, please contact the filmmakers at [email protected] in addition to securing your free Eventbrite ticket.

This event is free thanks to member support. Please become a KALW member today and receive your first drink on us at all 220 Montgomery events.

Please note:

• The event space is just to the left of the main entrance to the Mills Building at 220 Montgomery Street
• We recommend taking BART/MUNI, exiting at Montgomery, and walking two blocks north
• Ride-shares can drop off and pick up directly in front of the venue
• If you drive, there are several garages within two blocks of the event location

JEN BRADWELL -- CO-DIRECTOR, EDITOR

Jen has edited more than 15 feature documentaries, including the Emmy Award-winning TIME FOR ILHAN, THE BIG PICTURE: RETHINKING DYSLEXIA (Sundance/HBO), Jennifer Siebel Newsom’s FAIR PLAY (Hulu), and Erika Cohn’s WHAT YOU’LL REMEMBER (NYT Op-Docs). Two seminal projects she wrote and edited (RESILIENCE and PAPER TIGERS) have had more than 50,000 community screenings to date, helping ignite a national conversation about childhood trauma. Jen has taught editing master classes at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism and UC Santa Cruz’s Social Documentation program. Years of editing and story consulting have inspired her to direct her first feature doc.

TODD BOEKELHEIDE -- CO-DIRECTOR, CINEMATOGRAPHER

Todd’s long and varied career began with editing picture and sound on STAR WARS and THE BLACK STALLION. He subsequently mixed sound on numerous Oscar-winning films, and won an Academy Award for AMADEUS. He then built a career composing music for documentaries, including HEARTS OF DARKNESS, BALLETS RUSSES, SEÑORITA EXTRAVIADA, and 31⁄2 MINUTES, TEN BULLETS. He has worked with a stellar list of filmmakers: David Fincher, Carroll Ballard, David Lynch, Jon Else, Milos Forman, Philip Kaufman, David Peoples, Bill Couturié, Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine, Lourdes Portillo and many others. Todd brings his decades of experience to his directorial debut.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

220 Montgomery St, 220 Montgomery Street, San Francisco, United States