American Autumn: An Occudoc

The first feature length documentary on the Occupy movement, American Autumn: an occudoc not only offers answers for those who continue to ask: “what does the occupy movement stand for? What are our demands?” – it offers a challenge and an invitation to engage with the movement. The Occupy movement seeks to be an equalizing force for good in a world dominated by greed. The question some of us within the Occupy movement are trying to solve is this one: what would a world look like that had a culture and an economic system that places human need above corporate greed, and how do we bring that world into being? Who cares what it's called? Call it Socialism, Real Democracy Now, or Chunky-Monkey-Cherry Garcia. The world needs to change radically and dramatically--and it needs to change fast. Without debating the merits of capitalism versus socialism, the way capitalism operates right now in our global culture delivers poverty, misery, and is downright homicidal. People do, in fact, die for lack of access to health-care. Human consumption is, in fact, accelerating the destruction of our planet. People do, in fact, die in wars waged based on lies that profit a precious few. Over 5 million children globally each year do not reach a 5th birthday because they die of starvation. This is not because the system that puts man on the moon or can squeeze an entire library onto a computer chip the size of a thumbnail has failed to find a way to feed these children. Rather, our system is so competitive that it accepts these deaths as a natural component of a capitalist model that dominates world markets. In short, the system is driven by corporate greed, not human need.