SINGING FOR JUSTICE features the life of Faith Petric - a joyous performer who united folk music and activism across nearly a century, singing to change the world – and herself.
SINGING FOR JUSTICE reveals the story of Faith Petric (1915-2013), a San Francisco-based political radical, musical organizer, and joyous performer who united folk music and activism through almost a century of American social movements. Over her long and purposeful life, Petric combined group singing and progressive politics, inspiring all to take responsibility for social change, women and elders to defy stereotypes, and everyone she met to sing along.
SINGING FOR JUSTICE provides a compelling portrait of this American original–a worker, social critic, single mother, perennial protestor, and traveling grandmother who reached across generations to encourage musical and political engagement.
Told largely by Faith herself, the film draws upon a treasure trove of sources – her extensive life-long collection of photos and artifacts, performance and interview footage across the decades, and insights from historians, musical colleagues, and family members. Historical footage provides context for a life in which Faith Petric was not abstractly affected by world events but chose to make her mark upon them – from her log-cabin origins to political radicalization during the Great Depression; from her work as a Rosie the Riveter and participant in the first Greenwich Village folk revival in the 1940s to her post-war life as a single working mother in San Francisco; and from marching in Selma in 1965 to reinventing herself as a post-retirement troubadour.
Faith Petric’s story shows how committed networks of people sustain resistance to inequality and conformity in America – through speaking up and singing out. In telling Petric’s story, SINGING FOR JUSTICE probes the personal motivations and the historical circumstances that generated her exceptional dedication to creativity and community building. The film asks what legacies her life offers for those seeking social justice in our own times. Along with providing a social history of modern America through musical history, we hope that SINGING FOR JUSTICE will empower audiences young and old to create music and multi-generational communities, aspiring to the kind of civic engagement that Faith Petric modeled over her lifetime.
Christie Herring (she/her) is an award-winning filmmaker, producer, and editor who has worked in documentary film for over 25 years. Her work broaches complex political and cultural subjects, reaching national and international audiences through outlets including the Tribeca Film Festival, PBS and major streaming services, and the White House and US Embassies around the world. She directed THE CAMPAIGN (PBS) which followed California’s battle over queer marriage equality and SINGING FOR JUSTICE (PBS, with Estelle Freedman), featuring political and musical renegade Faith Petric. Recent editing and producing credits include THE BIG SCARY "S" WORD (Hulu, editor/co-producer), CODE: DEBUGGING THE GENDER GAP (Tribeca, editor/producer), 23 MILE (True/False, producer), ONE PERSON ONE VOTE (PBS, consulting editor/co-producer), DEATH IS OUR BUSINESS (PBS Frontline, finishing editor), BIAS (Amazon, editor/producer), and POINT OF NO RETURN (PBS NOVA, editor). In addition to her work in feature documentaries, Christie has directed several shorts films, has worked with numerous organizations on mission-driven storytelling, and her research background includes five years as a Project Director at the Harvard School of Public Health. Christie is a Member and former Steering Committee Chair of the 50-year-old film distribution coop New Day Films. She is an instructor with the American Film Showcase, and labs and residencies include Yaddo, the SFFILM Film House, UnionDocs, the NBPC New Media Institute, the ITVS Queer X-Change, and the CPB/PBS Producer’s Academy. She received her BA from Duke University and her MA in Documentary Filmmaking from Stanford University.
