It’s Premiere Week for “No Country for Mothers”

I am writing this exhausted, overwhelmed in the best way, and more sure than I have ever been that we are onto something big.

This week, No Country for Mothers went out into the world. After years of fighting to make it a reality, nothing could prepare me for the feeling of sharing it with moms for the first time.

On Monday, we held the world premiere in downtown New York City. Over 200 moms, allies, our Moms First team, the film team, people who have been with this movement since the early days, all in one place to watch a documentary that, for years, lived only in my head and in a thousand conversations with women across this country who were exhausted, angry, and done being gaslit into thinking their struggle was a personal failing.

At the premiere, I asked the associate producers in the room to stand up.They did. Then I asked every mom who’s had enough to stand up. More stood. Then I asked everyone who believes this country should work for mothers to stand. The whole room was on its feet, cheering.

It’s an image I won’t ever forget because it was proof positive that we are stronger than they want us to believe. There are more of us than there are of them, and we are done sitting down. We have had enough.

You want to know how I’m so sure? Over 1,500 moms signed up to join our virtual watch party last night. Parents and allies who have spent the week juggling work, caregiving, and end-of-school activities, carved out two hours from their evening to watch this film in community. And the chat box was like nothing I had seen before. “I’m so angry.” “I wish I had told more people to watch this.” And then, “we are more powerful than we realize.” “All we have to do is pull together and we can make positive change happen.” This is how revolutions are born.

You may not believe me when I say I never planned to become a film producer. But when you see a problem this big, you don’t think about red carpets or after parties. You think about survival. You start building because you can’t accept that there are no solutions. And if you’re successful at poking and prodding, you’ll hit a nerve in the just the right way that people will want to join you. And that’s exactly what happened with this documentary. Real moms, from every corner of this country, put their names on this film as associate producers, breaking the world record for the most producers ever credited on a single film ever. Real moms spent their Wednesday night strategizing how to bring this fight to their communities before the midterms.

I’ve spent years building Moms First on a simple bet that the thing keeping us from winning paid leave and affordable childcare isn’t a lack of evidence or a lack of need, it’s division. It’s the culture war machine that hands us a new reason to fight each other every single time we get close to fighting them instead.

This week was the proof. When moms watch this film together and then talk to each other afterward, we can break the spell. The shame turns to clarity, the clarity unearths rage, and the rage mobilizes.

This film is gasoline, and you are the match. Now we need you to help us spread the fire.

Go to NoCountryForMothers.com and sign up to host a screening, or find one happening near you. Bring it to your group chat, your book club, your workplace, your kid’s school. Every room that watches this together becomes a room that can no longer be divided by the same old lies.

CLICK TO WATCH

While you’re here…

Ms. Magazine just launched Feminist 250: Democracy's Feminist Future, a series bringing together today's leading thinkers to imagine what the next 250 years could look like if this country actually worked for everyone. They have an incredible slate of articles up now that are essential reading.

I was so honored to contribute a piece on the one thing I believe is the load-bearing wall of any real feminist agenda: universal childcare. It's not a radical idea. It's the bare minimum a democracy owes the people doing its most essential work. Read it here and let me know what you think.

In case you missed it…

Marianne Schnall sat down with me to talk about No Country for Mothers and what it actually means to build a country that supports families instead of blaming mothers for a system that was never built for us. You can read our conversation in Forbes here. Thank you, Marianne!

I was so excited to be reunited with Kate Sullivan on To Dine For to talk about Moms First, No Country for Mothers, and why bringing women together, across every divide, is the only way we win. You can watch it on YouTube or listen wherever you get your podcasts!