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Ciara Lacy, Producer of Marketing & Distribution
sales@parentsoftherevolution.com
Production Company Information
Dane Gramp Productions
info@parentsoftherevolution.com
PARENTS OF THE REVOLUTION
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Trailer available at: http://parentsoftherevolution.com/media/trailer/
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Synopsis
Director’s Statement
Production Notes
The Team
The Cast
Credits
Technical Specs
3-4
5
6-7
8
9
10-11
12
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SYNOPSIS
"Parents of the Revolution" follows a group of activist parents in the Occupy Wall Street
movement who believe that it's their democratic duty to teach their kids to speak out
against injustice. Are they heroes who are bringing up their kids with a civic conscience
or agitators who are using their children as human shields?
In late October, 2011, a month into Occupy Wall Street’s takeover of Zuccotti Park in New
York City’s financial district, a new movement erupts amidst the excitement and turmoil with
police––Parents of Occupy Wall Street. Started by Kirby Desmarais, a gutsy and resourceful
26-year-old mom and independent music manager, the group is meant to be an outlet for
families to get more involved in Occupy Wall Street. In fact, Kirby organizes a “family
sleepover” in Zuccotti Park, which draws over 500 kids and parents with sleeping bags in tow,
ready for a night of protesting.
Among the families joining Kirby’s group are Rob and Myra Territo, an inner-city schoolteacher
and real estate agent from New Jersey. As veteran activists, the Territos see Parents of Occupy
Wall Street as an opportunity to show their 5-year-old son and 9-year-old daughter what it
means to speak out against injustice. Joining them are Rivka and Bruce Little, a biracial couple
raising their 6- and 13-year-old daughters in the Jewish faith. The Littles protest due to concern
for their girls’ safety from the controversial “stop and frisk” policies that dominate their East
Harlem neighborhood. Rounding out the group is Mark Hamilton, a dad slash indie rocker, who
is compelled to bring his young daughter Scarlett out to Occupy. Energized, the group is ready
to give voice to the others like them amongst the 99%–– families struggling across the country.
However, as the Occupy Wall Street movement falls apart and the NYPD becomes increasingly
violent toward protesters, Kirby, colored by her past, makes it the group’s mission to protest
the ‘bully’ police. With dozens of other parents and kids, they march to City Hall to display
thousands of paper hearts representing each of the arrested protesters. Without warning, the
police tear down the artwork in front of the startled children.
As the protests escalate, Kirby and her group struggle with their mission. A video of the “paper
hearts protest” goes viral and results in a major media backlash that the group is “brainwashing
their kids.” They are accused of using their children as “human shields.” As the winter settles in
and Occupy Wall Street is displaced, the activist parents face trouble within the group. The
Federal Government has just passed an anti-terrorist law that would allow Occupy protesters
to be arrested as enemy combatants without habeas corpus, which results in parents outside of
the core group becoming fearful about involving their kids. With increased belligerence by the
police and closer observation by Child Protective Services, the group starts to falter. On the
home front, Kirby’s marriage is collapsing.
With the arrival of spring, the group again mobilizes to continue their protests of the police.
They create a ‘Chalkupation’ at Zuccotti Park to speak out against the arrests of several
protesters for drawing on the ground with chalk days earlier. With all the families chalking up
the park, the police are hesitant to make any further arrests and even buy Girl Scout cookies
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from Rob and Myra’s kids. While the police are calm during the ‘Chalkupation,’ the parents see
Child Protective Services agents carefully observing them and meet to discuss whether they
should continue the group’s activities.
“Are we going to question complacency by testing these laws or not?” Rivka asks. “We’re
activists because we’re willing to challenge the law to have our voice heard and we’re either
taking this to the street or we’re not. I plan to do it with children this spring.”
Can this group overcome the many challenges they face and make a difference? Will they get
arrested and their kids taken away? The end of the film will find Kirby being driven away in the
back of a police car, but for reasons that will surprise you.
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DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
After making a documentary about the changing role of fatherhood, I wanted to explore
themes of parenting in a film, but couldn’t find a way into the topic that really engaged me. Then
Occupy Wall Street occurred in September, 2011, and I was so excited because for the first
time in a long while people were spontaneously getting together to give our citizenry a genuine
voice.
On a whim, I googled “parents” with “occupy wall street” and up popped “Parents for Occupy
Wall Street” – a group that had formed days earlier. They were planning a “family sleepover” in
Zuccotti Park – an event that would have over 500 parents and kids attending. The idea that
families would be willing to come with sleeping bags to such an event spoke to the potential of
this movement.
Thus began a shooting period that would span over a year in which I followed the families
involved with this group, collecting over a hundred hours of footage. The coverage is intimate
and at points harrowing. My intention was to create an experiential film that would make you
feel like you are in the middle of the action of Occupy Wall Street with these parents and their
kids. Aesthetically, I chose against the use of a tripod or additional lighting to enhance the
immediacy and rawness of the film.
I made this film because, like many suburban parents, I feel frustrated at the direction our
country has been heading. I think for many parents, we would love to go save the country but
between the carpools and the dance recitals and trying to make ends meet there’s not much
left of us by day’s end. So, we succumb to armchair activism, grumbling about the idiocy of our
celebrity culture and consuming the news through The Daily Show.
Shooting this film gave me an opportunity step outside of this pattern and meet some parents
who were taking time out of their busy schedules to protest. What makes them heroic is their
determination to battle complacency and injustice as a teaching lesson in civic involvement for
their kids.
In this way, the film is much less about Occupy Wall Street and more about what it means to
speak out against injustice and how these values can be passed down to our children. I feel
extremely honored to have filmed these activist families and only hope that their example will
help inspire more people to take a stand with their own kids.
Dana H. Glazer, Producer - Director
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PRODUCTION NOTES
FINDING EVERYDAY ROCKSTARS
In September of 2011, Occupy Wall Street charged into the public conscious, physically taking
over New York City’s Zuccotti Park Square and grabbing the interest of national media outlets.
For filmmaker Dana H. Glazer, it was a moment of electric opportunity. Having recently
completed his first feature length documentary, THE EVOLUTION OF DAD and wanting to
make a film about parenting, Glazer sensed there was potential to create a documentary amidst
the excitement and clamor of the Occupy protests.
Glazer fondly recalls he “did a quick Google search and found Parents For Occupy Wall Street,
which had literally been created days earlier, and they were having a family sleepover in
Zuccotti Park. So, I reached out to Kirby, who had formed the group, and that’s how this whole
thing started!”
Thus, in an amazingly appropriate way, production on PARENTS OF THE REVOLUTION began
with Glazer filming the classic, childhood institution of the sleepover with a new twist. Zuccotti
Park was littered with sleeping bags and protest signs and baby bottles as news cameras
hovered over families voicing their opinions in an unusually wholesome atmosphere. The
experience sparked an immediate admiration between the filmmakers and their subjects.
“Parents can be total rock stars,” admires associate producer, Lisa Duggan. “This film only
reinforced that notion for me.”
While one film subject is actually a tried-and-true rock star, the majority of the moms and dads
featured in PARENTS OF THE REVOLUTION are everyday heroes. Duggan states, “The
parents we filmed were constantly on the go, whether they were marching, working, or taking
care of their family. Lots of moving parts.” With all the demands of being a modern parent,
Duggan was “impressed and inspired by their willingness to stand up and speak out. It's a
remarkable thing to leave your warm house on a cold day to march in the streets, and to
literally put yourself on the line to fight against injustice.”
FILMING A REVOLUTION TO CREATE ONE
There is an authenticity to PARENTS OF THE REVOLUTION from the inside out, as both
Glazer and Duggan are parents slash filmmakers shooting a film about other parents. This ethos
demanded the film’s visual style be equally authentic.
“In contrast to my previous documentary, THE EVOLUTION OF DAD, which was very
interview based, I wanted to shoot something in the moment as it was happening. I chose not
to use a tripod or lighting kits to get a gritty, verite feel,” remarks Glazer. “I went into the
filming with some focused questions: Will these parents get arrested? What does it take to
change the world? How do these activist moms and dads parent their kids, and how does the
government ‘parent’ its citizens?”
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After shooting for roughly one year and amassing over 100 hours of footage, Glazer was able to
quickly shape the documentary in about four months. As a completed film, PARENTS OF THE
REVOLUTION seems like a natural fit for Glazer’s body of work. His previous film, THE
EVOLUTION OF DAD, profiled fathers Glazer felt were heroic, because of the choices they
made balancing their work and family lives. Per Glazer, “This balance is extremely difficult in
our current economic system, and it goes deep into larger social issues about how people are
treated in our country. I see this new film [PARENTS OF THE REVOLUTION] as digging even
deeper into those same issues. As a parent, the issue of how do we raise our kids is important
to me, and so I see this new film as a further exploration in terms of better understanding my
role as a caregiver.”
INSPIRING ACTIVE CITIZENS
While social justice and documentary filmmaking are so often synonymous today, PARENTS OF
THE REVOLUTION is a film oriented towards awakening the public not toward a singular
cause but toward inspiring active citizens as a whole. Glazer encourages communities to
broaden their definition of civic responsibility beyond voting every four years. He states, “As
Margaret Mead put it, the fate of our country rests less in our political leaders and more in the
hands of a group of concerned citizens. It is our responsibility to speak up when things go
wrong and only through our actions will our children learn what is required of being a citizen in
this great country. That's why I see these parents as heroic: they are teaching their kids to be
active citizens. If more of the populace grew up with this mindset I believe we'd be in a much
better place.”
And, ultimately, as evidenced by the parents and children in this film, the simple act of teaching
your child to speak out for what they believe in is not only empowering but creates a
generation confident that they can institute change. This is the power of Glazer’s work: “I hope
that people can awaken to the idea that we have a lot of power to make change in our society
if we can come together.”
Page 7 of 12
THE TEAM
PRODUCER – DIRECTOR | Dana H. Glazer
Dana H. Glazer is an award winning filmmaker and father of three
young kids living in Northern New Jersey. He has written screenplays
for Warner Brothers and the Syfy Channel. He teaches film at Fairleigh
Dickinson University, produces short videos for USA Today and writes
for the Huffington Post. His fatherhood documentary, THE
EVOLUTION OF DAD (www.evolutionofdad.com), was featured in
the NYTimes, CNN and the Today Show. PARENTS OF THE
REVOLUTION marks his second feature length documentary.
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER | Lisa Duggan
Lisa Duggan, Associate Producer, is an entrepreneur whose passion and
focus is the well-being of contemporary families. She is the founder and
CEO of American Woman Publishing LLC, a media company dedicated
to serving contemporary families through print and digital publications
and educational programs, including The Modern Village; a workshop
series dedicated to increasing the social and emotional health and
education of today’s families. Lisa also currently serves as Chief
Operations Officer for umojawa.com, a crowdfunding platform for
educational and not-for-profit organizations serving youth. She is
currently writing a book about the global economy based on her
experience and research in producing the film. For now, her writing can be found at
TheMotherhoodBlog and Forbes.com, or you may read her very, very short stories on Twitter,
as @motherhoodmag.
Page 8 of 12
THE CAST
KIRBY, MARK, AND GEORGIAH DESMARAIS
Kirby and Mark Desmarais live in Red Hook, Brooklyn with their 2 year-old-daughter,
Georgiah. Kirby, a gutsy and resourceful 26 year-old-mom and independent music manager,
creates “Parents for Occupy Wall Street” as an outlet for families to get more involved in the
movement.
RIVKA GERWITZ-LITTLE, BRUCE LITTLE, ASSATA, NAVAH
Rivka and Bruce Little are a biracial couple raising their 6- and 13-year-old daughters in the
Jewish faith. When NY City’s controversial “stop and frisk” policy threatens their East Harlem
neighborhood, they become involved in “Parents for Occupy Wall Street” due to concern for
their daughters’ safety.
MYRA, ROB, SHEA, AND CHASE TERRITO
Rob, an inner-city schoolteacher, and Myra, a real estate agent, live in New Jersey with their
two children. As veteran activists, they see “Parents for Occupy Wall Street” as an opportunity
to show their 5-year-old son Chase and 9-year-old daughter Shea what it means to speak out
against injustice.
MARK HAMILTON AND HIS DAUGHTER SCARLETT
Mark Hamilton is a parent activist who brings his five-year-old daughter, Scarlet, to Occupy
Wall Street protests. With a special talent for drawing, Mark created the “Chalkupation” as a
way for kids to engage in protests. When not speaking out against injustice, Mark is the bass
player/songwriter in the indie rock group Ash.
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CREDITS
THE PARENTS
KIRBY AND MARK DESMARAIS
BRIAN DOUGLAS AND DEBORAH ZEP
ALIA GANAPASKI
MARK HAMILTON
RIVKA GERWITZ LITTLE AND BRUCE LITTLE
MYRA AND ROB TERRITO
THE KIDS
GEORGIAH DESMARAIS
DOMINICK DOUGLAS
SAM EVANS
SCARLET HAMILTON
ASSATA LITTLE
NAVA LITTLE
CHASE TERRITO
SHEA TERRITO
CREW LIST
Producer, Director, and Editor
DANA H. GLAZER
Associate Producer
LISA DUGGAN
Cinematography
DANA H. GLAZER
PHELPS HARMON
PHILLIPO PISCOPO
Additional Cinematography
RENEE RENATA BERGAN
KYLE CHRISTOPHER
KATIE FALKENBERG
JOSHUA VAN PRAAG
LUKE RUDKOWSKI
MICHAEL TRACEY
Producer of Marketing and Distribution
CIARA LACY
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Production Assistance
NICOLE WEEDON
STEPHANIE LOMBARDO
Assistant Editor
SHANA MCKAY BURNS
Sound Design and Mixing
DAVID WILSON
Color Correction
LUIS SIERRA
Key Art
DAN CHAPMAN
Music Supervisor
KIRBY DESMARAIS
Bookkeeping and Budgeting
BESS ECKSTEIN
Special Thanks
MARYLOU BONGIORNO
STEPHEN FERNANDS
DEBORAH GLAZER
MARTIN AND CAROL GLAZER
KILEY KRASKOUSKAS
MICHAEL LALLY
BILL PLATT
BARBARA AND MARTY ROSEN
SUSAN GLAZER YOSPIN
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TECHNICAL SPECS
Year of Release
TRT
Format
Language
Close Caption
2014
80:00
Color, Aspect 1.85
English
Available Upon Request
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