Show Up, Speak Out, Document Your Event: 1 Day to FALL OF FREEDOM May Day, 2026

In this special vHopeful Conversations episode, Vanessa Hope spotlights Fall of Freedom, a nationwide wave of creative resistance to rising authoritarianism that began last fall and now returns with more than twenty May Day film screenings across multiple states. She highlights powerful new work from award‑winning filmmakers, including Steal This Story, Please! about fearless journalist Amy Goodman and Democracy Now!, directed by Carl Deal and Tia Lessin; Homegrown, directed by Michael Premo with writing consulting by two‑time Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright Lynn Nottage, examining the rise of right‑wing extremism in America; Soul Patrol, J.M. Harper’s Sundance‑winning drama about an elite unit of African American special‑ops soldiers in Vietnam; and Chelsea Winstanley’s feature debut TOITŪ: Visual Sovereignty, following Māori curator Nigel Borell as his groundbreaking exhibition becomes a battleground over Indigenous self‑determination. She also shares news of Invisible Nation, her documentary on Taiwan’s struggle for democracy, premiering on PBS this May Day, along with programs like Fall of Freedom: Labor of Love and Damned in the U.S.A.: A Fight for First Amendment Rights with legendary lawyer Martin Garbus—inviting listeners to join a communal declaration that truth matters, art matters, and courage is contagious at falloffreedom.com. Get full access to Dream of a Better World at vanessahope.substack.com/subscribe