Mary Beth Fielder is an award winning filmmaker and teacher. She’s written and produced feature films and mentored over 100 student films as a professor at USC School of Cinematic Arts. Her life as an activist began when she found herself steering conversations with her students to issues like climate change and the extinction crisis.
She began organizing to end the legal concept of corporate constitutional rights in 2009 after viewing the award winning documentary film “The Corporation” which presented the paradox of an institution that creates great wealth but causes enormous, and often hidden harms. When the Supreme Court handed down their ruling in Citizens United and declared that “corporations are people” with full constitutional protections, she stepped up her efforts. In 2011, she spearheaded the successful campaign to make Los Angeles the first major US city to call for a Constitutional Amendment to overturn the Citizens United.
She co-founded Money Out Voters In (MOVI) a non-partisan grassroots organization to mobilize public support around these issues. MOVI’s accomplishments include the first 28th Amendment conference, passage of Proposition C in Los Angeles and the current campaign to get Proposition 49 The Overturn Citizen’s United Act on the California state ballot in 2016. She is also exploring new forms of democratic decision making and how to use the amazing capacity of digital technology to transform the way we govern ourselves.
