Tips for Hosting a Screening & Panel Discussion

Not In Our Town’s film Minnesota Neighbors documents the courageous, peaceful, community-wide actions of Minnesota residents who stood with those who were harmed and affirmed a commitment to democracy and the rule of law during ICE’s Operation Metro Surge.

A screening event that convenes diverse residents, local organizations, elected officials, faith groups, and youth can reinforce a shared sense of commitment and responsibility in your own community to unite and stand together to promote safety and belonging – and respond when neighbors are threatened.

Here are some helpful hints for coordinating your event.

Getting Started: Planning Your Community Screening

• Panelists: Be inclusive and invite people from a variety of backgrounds, professions, and community groups. Suggestions include: immigrants and local community advocates, educators, students, religious leaders, human rights organizations, union members, civic groups, elected officials, journalists and law enforcement. Have a pre-screening discussion with the panelists. We’ve found it’s helpful to have the panelists view the film beforehand to determine their own angle on the film, and prepare any additional comments they may like to add to the discussion.
• Moderator / Facilitator: Moderators and facilitators play a crucial role in helping the audience understand the lessons of the film and move to taking action in their community. A good moderator is articulate, aware of the subject, familiar with the community, and maintains a positive tone without getting derailed by individuals or groups with other agendas. Communities report success with moderators that are neutral and non-polarizing, and who can resonate with a diversity of audiences. Consider selecting news personalities, elected officials, educators or clergy.
• Download Ten Guiding Questions for Community Screenings from the film website, to help plan your discussion. Extended viewing guides for communities and schools will be available in the future.
• Selling posters, buttons, or other materials at the event can be a great way to raise funds for your group or for NIOT’s national community engagement campaign for the film.

Location, Location, Location

• Good potential screening locations include your public television station, local theaters, university/college lecture halls, school auditoriums, churches or synagogues, libraries, union halls, and government buildings. Be sure to spend some extra time promoting the event to those who work, live or frequent the building that will host the screening.

Spreading the Word and Building the Buzz

• Get the word out about your community screening. The film website includes a sample press release, email invitation, poster and event graphics, among other resources to help you promote your event.
• Building the crowd: Call on community organizations to help you organize and promote the event. Make an effort to promote the screening online through community groups’ websites, local event websites, and social media platforms. Add the screening to the online community events calendars hosted by your local television and radio stations. In the print world, look for advertising, calendar listings and articles in your local newspapers.
• Remember to include youth in your list of invitees. Ask schools, students and youth groups to help plan and participate in the event.
• Press: Find out from your local media how long before your event they need information, and send them a press release in time. Be sure to invite reporters and media to attend and cover the screening so your event reaches even more people than those who attend.
• Recruit community members who would be willing to write a letter to the editor in local newspapers before the event to encourage the community to attend, and after the event to note the success and recap details and next steps.

Screening & Discussion

• If you choose to address content warnings, you may inform audience members during opening remarks that the film includes disturbing images of violence.
• Plan for at least 30 to 60 minutes for discussion after the film screening.
• For any audience, consider organizing attendees into breakout groups for part of the discussion. Especially in a large group, difficult or open-ended questions might make some people feel uncomfortable or shy about speaking out; these individuals might share more openly in a smaller group. In a theater setting where breakout sessions are logistically difficult, pose a discussion question and encourage attendees to hold a five-minute conversation with the person in the next seat.

After the Event: Next Steps and Opportunities for Action

• Have a plan to channel people to local organizations already working to address safety, cultivate solidarity, and prepare for similar or other threats, and feature information about local resources available if people are inspired to carry on the work.
• At the event, you may decide as a group to take action in your community. After community screenings of NIOT films, some towns have even passed a Not In Our Town proclamation about how they will work together to affirm inclusivity and stand united, and released the proclamation to the media. In honor of United Against Hate Week, cities, counties and school boards have passed UAH Week resolutions and proclamations.
• If you plan to build a new rapid response or mutual aid network or start a local Not In Our Town group, be sure to collect contact information of those in attendance, making sure to keep individual contact information secure. It’s especially helpful to ask people to note their strengths/connections to the community and how they may like to be involved. It’s a good idea to have a follow-up meeting scheduled already to encourage attendees of the screening to participate. Have fliers available advertising the meeting and encourage attendees to invite others.
• After your screening, tell us what you’ve done! Please send a paragraph recapping your event with any photos to info@niot.org. Tag Not In Our Town on Facebook and Instagram. Use the hashtag #NotInOurTown to share.