MAKE A CIRCLE Screening: LA

Haga clic en el botón naranja con el texto ‘Get tickets’ y siga las instrucciones en pantalla para registrarse para obtener sus pases de admisión.

In proud partnership with: PBS SoCal, Service Employees International Union Local 99, Molly Steinsapir Early Childhood Center at Kehillat Israel, Child Care Resource Center, California Association for the Education of Young Children

Thanks to our sponsors: Child Care Providers United Training Fund and First 5 Los Angeles

MAKE A CIRCLE Screening, Gathering and Panel

From an award-winning filmmaking team, 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.

RUN OF SHOW

📍 The Landmark Westwood: 1045 Broxton Ave #2803, Los Angeles, CA 90024

🕐 6:15 Doors open, light bites and mingling

📢 7:00 Opening remarks

📽️ 7:15 Movie begins

🗣️ 8:15 Panel discussion

👋 8:45 Event ends

EVENT AND ACCESSIBILITY DETAILS

🎟️ The event is free but RSVP is required

🍴Light Dinner Provided

👶 Free child care available. If attending with your child, please contact the filmmakers at [email protected] by September 10th in addition to securing your free Eventbrite ticket

🗣️The film will have Spanish subtitles when English is being spoken and English subtitles when Spanish is being spoken

🤟 If you require sign language interpretation, please contact [email protected] by September 4th to let us know.

🅿️ Parking lot nearby at 1036 Broxton Ave with a $6 evening flat rate

📸 There will be photographers at this event. By securing your ticket and entering the screening venue, you consent to be photographed, filmed and/or otherwise recorded.

✏️ Professional Development Opportunity: Please click on the link below if you are interested in receiving professional development hours, for attending this screening. You must have an account with the California Early Care and Education Workforce Registry.

To learn more about how to receive PD hours for attending please contact Angelica F. Preciado at [email protected]

NYT Bestselling Author

Eve Rodsky is working to change society one partnership at a time by coming up with a new 21st-century solution to an age-old problem: women shouldering 2/3 or more of the unpaid domestic work and childcare for their homes and families. Eve Rodsky transformed a “blueberries breakdown” into a catalyst for social change when she applied her Harvard trained background in organizational management to ask the simple yet profound question: What would happen if we treated our homes as our most important organizations? Her New York Times bestselling book and Reese’s Book Club Pick, Fair Play, a gamified life-management system that helps partners rebalance their domestic workload and reimagine their relationship, has elevated the cultural conversation about the value of unpaid labor and care. In her highly anticipated follow-up, Find Your Unicorn Space: Reclaim Your Creative Life in a Too-Busy World, Rodsky explores the cross-section between the science of creativity, productivity, and resilience. Described as the ‘antidote to physical, mental and emotional burnout,’ Rodsky aims to inspire a new narrative around the equality of time and the individual right to personal time choice that influences sustainable and lasting change on a policy level. Rodsky’s work is backed by Hello Sunshine—Reese Witherspoon’s media company whose mission is to change the narrative for women through storytelling. Rodsky was born and raised by a single mom in New York City and now lives in Los Angeles with her husband Seth and their three children.

JEN BRADWELL

Co-Director , MAKE A CIRCLE

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 REM EM BER {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.

CRISTIAN PALOMA CORONA

Family Childcare Provider and Union Member Leader

Cristian Paloma originally immigrated to the United States from Mexico and worked as an assistant at a family child care center in East Los Angeles. She then moved on to a daycare center, eventually becoming the assistant director. Her love and commitment to early care and education led her to open her own family child care. She is now the owner and founder of Little Sprouts Language Immersion Preschool, located in Los Angeles, Calif. As an accomplished childcare provider with over 15 years of experience, she is devoted to providing children with the tools they need to thrive and succeed. Through her union activism, Cristian Paloma is also a strong advocate for her profession. She is a member of Child Care Providers United (CCPU) and was part of the bargaining team that negotiated breakthrough contracts with the state of California. She is also a member of the Executive Board of SEIU Local 99-CCPU.

ALANA LEVITT

ECC Director at Kehillat Israel

Alana Levitt is an early childhood educator dedicated to creating nurturing, play-based learning environments rooted in community and Jewish values. She serves as the Director of the Molly Steinsapir Early Childhood Center at Kehillat Israel, which was formerly located in the Pacific Palisades and currently operates in Santa Monica.

Alana earned her B.A. in Human Development from Sonoma State University in 2006 and received her Masters in Early Childhood Education from American Jewish University in 2020. With years of experience as both a classroom teacher and an administrator, she brings expertise in curriculum development, teacher mentorship, and community engagement with a warm, inclusive approach.

She is a former Simms-Mann First 36 Project Fellow, member of the National Association of the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and a participant of SC-CAAEYC's Public Policy Forum. Alana is on the leadership team of the Builders of Jewish Education (BJE) Early Childhood Director's Network (ECDN) and Past Co-President. Alana lives in Santa Monica with her husband Sam, their three children, and their dog Lola.

PAT LEVITT, PhD

Simms/Mann Chair in Developmental Neurogenetics, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles

WM Keck Provost Professor of Neurogenetics, Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California

Professor Levitt serves as the Chief Scientific Officer, Senior Vice President and Director of the Saban Research Institute at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. Levitt is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. With over 350 publications, Levitt is a developmental neuroscientist pursuing both basic and clinical research studies. Areas of investigation in basic science include determining the mechanisms that underlie early circuit development and their maturation in adolescence, with a focus on those mediating social, emotional and cognitive development. Studies also examine the impact of early life adversity on gene expression, metabolic health and behavioral functioning across the lifespan. Human research studies examine brain, behavioral and emotional development of infants who are at risk for experiencing toxic stress due to early adversity, developing new biomarkers for identifying those children who are at greatest risk that can impede physical and mental health and well-being. The research group also examines family and community factors that build resilience. There are ongoing studies of the early identification of risk for autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The team works with many community organizations to develop best practices for research studies to engage underrepresented families, many for the first time. Levitt is a dedicated mentor, having trained 20 graduate students and 38 postdoctoral fellows, as well as more than 100 high school, undergraduate and medical students working on research projects in his lab. For more than two decades, Levitt has been committed to translating research discoveries into policy actions regarding brain and child development. He is the Co-Scientific Director of the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child and a Senior Fellow of the Harvard Center on the Developing Child. Levitt has spoken in 42 states in the U.S., and in Mexico and Canada to policy makers, business leaders and service providers about the powerful influence of early experiences on brain development and lifespan mental and physical health. Levitt currently sits on scientific advisory boards for several academic research institutes and was appointed in 2021 to the Independent Citizens’ Oversite Committee, the governing board of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. He is on the editorial board of 5 scientific journals and serves as a Science Mentor (with his granddaughter) on the Frontiers For Young Minds journal.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

The Landmark Westwood, 1045 Broxton Avenue, Los Angeles, United States