Turning Tide Productions

• Download Leppzer Speaking Presentation Flyer (PDF)
  (Includes PEACE PATRIOTS flyer, speaking tour information and fees, and press articles.)
• Watch Interview with Robbie Leppzer on DEMOCRACY NOW! by host Amy Goodman
• Watch Robbie Leppzer Speaking at Choate Rosemary Hall School (QuickTime Format)
• Download TURNING TIDE VIDEO CATALOG (PDF)

       "Filmmaker Robbie Leppzer is remarkably sensitive regarding the nuances of his subject matter and protagonists. The result is filmmaking that is both compelling and thought provoking."
       —Geoff Gilmore, Director, Sundance Film Festival

ROBBIE LEPPZER is an award-winning independent documentary filmmaker with thirty years experience directing over thirty independent film, video, and public radio documentaries for national and international distribution. His critically acclaimed works about contemporary social issues and multicultural themes have been broadcast globally by CNN International and broadcast nationally in the United States and Canada by PBS, CNN, Cinemax, Sundance Channel, The Learning Channel, Black Entertainment Television, Free Speech TV, Link TV, National Public Radio, Pacifica Radio, and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

From the environmental protests of the 1970s, to the growing global peace and social justice movement of the new millennium, Leppzer has chronicled grassroots social movements over the last three decades. His films show engaged citizens who take personal risks to work for nonviolent social change and build bridges across cultures.

Leppzer will be conducting a national college speaking and screening tour throughout 2007 - 2008 with THE PEACE PATRIOTS, along with a selected retrospective of his previous documentary films chronicling social change movements.

THE PEACE PATRIOTS is an intimate portrait of American dissenters reflecting on their personal participation as engaged citizens in a time of war. This 78-minute feature-length documentary film follows a diverse group of individuals, ranging in age from 13 to 74, including middle and high school students, college students, teachers, clergy, and war veterans from Korea, Vietnam and the Persian Gulf, as they take part in vigils, marches, theater performances, and civil disobedience sit-ins to protest the U.S. war in Iraq.

• Watch Excerpts of THE PEACE PATRIOTS

A presentation of THE PEACE PATRIOTS with filmmaker Robbie Leppzer will provide an educational opportunity to examine the Iraq war and how students can become involved in this critical issue. The presentation could be built around a teach-in, or it could be it’s own special event, or part of a classroom series. As the film highlights student participation in grassroots activism, it is a powerful inspiration about the role students can play in social change.

Leppzer will lead discussions after the film highlighting the importance of citizen activism in a participatory democracy. He will also critique mainstream media coverage of the anti-war protests and the on-going U.S. military occupation of Iraq and underscore the importance of independent "un-embedded" media. In addition, he will talk about the grassroots peace movement in the context of an expanding worldwide movement for global justice.

Leppzer will also be making a national speaking tour marking the 30th anniversary of his first documentary SEABROOK 1977. In April 1977, the small coastal town of Seabrook, New Hampshire became an international symbol in the battle over atomic energy. Concerned about the dangers of potential radioactive accidents, over 2,000 members of the Clamshell Alliance, a coalition of environmental groups, attempted to block construction of a nuclear power plant in Seabrook. 1,414 people were arrested in that civil disobedience protest and jailed en masse in National Guard armories for two weeks. SEABROOK 1977 tells the story of this seminal event of 1970's environmental activism.

• Watch An Excerpt of SEABROOK 1977 (QuickTime Format)
• Watch An Excerpt of SEABROOK 1977 (Windows Media Format)

       Leppzer helps audiences examine the vital role independent film and video can play in presenting alternatives to the coverage presented by the commercial mass media. In his presentations, he discusses how the corporate mass media often provides distorted and superficial news coverage, and how this led him to become an independent filmmaker.

        Leppzer challenges audiences to think critically and uses his own documentaries to spark discussions about media, culture, and contemporary social and political issues.

        Leppzer is available to spend one or several whole days on a college campus and screen retrospective selections from his previous documentaries chronicling social change movements over the last three decades.

Leppzer has spoken at over 30 colleges including Amherst College, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Smith College, Mount Holyoke College, Hampshire College, Deerfield Academy, Choate Rosemary Hall, University of Massachusetts at Boston, Wellesley College, Ithaca College, Cornell University, Oberlin College, Kent State University, Stanford University, University of California at Berkeley, University of San Francisco, San Francisco Art Institute, Golden Gate Law School, San Francisco State University, California State University at Los Angeles, University of California at Davis, University of Arkansas, Marquette University, Marian College, University of Iowa, School for International Training, University of Vermont, Keene State College, Worcester State College, Marlboro College, Quinnipiac College, Greenfield Community College, Minneapolis College of Art and Design, and scores of public high schools and middle schools across the country.

Robbie Leppzer speaking at Choate Rosemary Hall School on January 9, 2007 in Wallingford, CT.

In January 2007, Robbie Leppzer conducted a three-day filmmaker-in-residence program at Choate Rosemary Hall School in Wallingford, CT. He spoke in large assemblies and conducted numerous classroom visits to present an intensive retrospective screening program of his documentary films chronicling grassroots social change movements over the past three decades. Watch a 5-minute video clip, when Leppzer introduces his feature documentary, THE PEACE PATRIOTS, before the entire student body. (Filmed by Brian Jones).

• Watch Robbie Leppzer Speaking at Choate Rosemary Hall School (5 minutes - QuickTime Format)
• To download a free QuickTime Movie Player for either a PC or a Mac, click here.

SPEAKING PRESENTATION REVIEWS

"After the screening, Leppzer skillfully elicited an usually lively and prolonged discussion. In a perceptive way, he built on the students’ knowledge and differing opinions to arrive at insights about media, democracy, and social change. His presentation was so successful that it remained a topic of conversation for the next several weeks."
—Carlos Fontes, Ph.D., Professor of Communications, Worcester State College

"Robbie Leppzer was extraordinarily well-received in his appearance in my classroom. Not surprising for such an outstanding documentary filmmaker, Leppzer is a natural teacher, both in terms of his presentation, as well as in his ability to ask the kinds of questions that can bring students into the learning process through engaged discussion. He was able to meld his personal stories with informed analysis that raised awareness of both the process of filmmaking and the subjects explored in the films themselves."
—Stephen Zunes, Ph.D., Professor of Politics, University of San Francisco

       "Recently, we held a film screening seminar with Robbie Leppzer. This seminar was one of the most engaging of the year. Bitten by the topic, thirty high schools students relentlessly asked questions following the screening. The discussion made for good drama and left the students with new questions to ponder. The resulting student essays were some of the most provocative I have read this year.
     Robbie Leppzer has an engaging presence as a seminar leader and instructor. His enthusiasm for the subject of film and the social consciousness it can express is infectious. He is high on our list of repeat performances next year."
       —Rembert Briggs, English Teacher, Roosevelt High School, Hyde Park, NY

"Robbie Leppzer is a seasoned filmmaker who knows how to let people tell their own stories without being intrusive. He is a patient presenter who helps elicit from viewers their own response to his films. Leppzer’s documentaries, along with his personal presence as a speaker, are definitely conversation starters that continue long after his visit."
—Michael Duffey, Professor of Theology, Marquette University

"Filmmaker Robbie Leppzer spoke and led a discussion after the screening. It was clear from his skill and patience in handling the questions and comments of the audience that he has a high respect for dialogue."
—Chris Holme, Student, University of Massachusetts at Amherst

"Robbie Leppzer is a very engaging speaker. He is passionate and enthusiastic about his work as a filmmaker. I would recommend him to any group and hope to see him again at the University of Arkansas."
—Jay Gates, Student, University of Arkansas at Fayetteville

TELEVISION AND RADIO INTERVIEWS WITH FILMMAKER

• Watch Interview with Robbie Leppzer on DEMOCRACY NOW! by host Amy Goodman
• Watch Interview with Robbie Leppzer on INN World Report on Free Speech TV
• Listen To Interview with Robbie Leppzer on Pacifica Radio's KPFA in Berkeley, CA

CONTACT INFO

Robbie Leppzer is available for speaking engagements in conjunction with video screenings at colleges and universities, high schools, middle schools, conferences, libraries, community forums, media art centers, museums, independent theaters, bookstores and community organizations.

For more detailed information about Robbie Leppzer's speaking and documentary film screening programs, download our Speaking Presentation Flyer below.

• Download Leppzer Speaking Presentation Flyer (PDF)
  (Includes PEACE PATRIOTS flyer, speaking tour information and fees, and press articles.)
  (PDF Format - requires free Adobe Acrobat Reader.)

        To inquire about scheduling a speaking engagement, call us toll-free at 1-800-557-6414 or email us at: info (at) turningtide.com.

PRESS ARTICLES (pdf format)

• BOSTON GLOBE: A Filmmaker Unafraid To Go Against The Tide
• DAILY HAMPSHIRE GAZETTE: Documentary Filmmaker Focuses On Area 'Peace Patriots'
• PATRIOT LEDGER: Leppzer Focuses On Social Change

Browse our entire video collection of social issue and multicultural video documentaries directed by Robbie Leppzer.

• DOWNLOAD CATALOG (PDF Format)

• REQUEST A CATALOG
(Send us your postal address and we will mail you a printed color catalog.)

Special Note: Our catalog currently only features short descriptions of each title. For complete descriptions, click on titles in our Video Collection section.