Summit panels

ACORN 8 will open the 10th Annual Whistleblowers Summit & Film Festival and welcome their special guest. They will be joined by summit co-hosts, the Northeast Filmmakers Lab, and the Society of Professional Journalists. Recent events led to the theme for the annual conference—Does The Truth Still Matter? 50 Years After The Watergate Break-in. The host committee will be joined by Former New York City Detective Frank Serpico, who received his Medal of Honor from NYPD over 50 years after his act of valor and courage.

The USDA has long used the term "socially disadvantaged" farmer and "historically underserved" farmer. This workshop provides a current update on the dysfunctional behavior within the Office of Civil Rights and how farmers and employees continue to be harmed. There will be an additional focus on activities on the Hill that impact the system at USDA.

This workshop aims to maximize support from the whistleblower community for a legislative showdown that may determine the strength of whistleblower rights for the foreseeable future.

Over three to four decades, there has been significant growth in government offices, businesses, and elsewhere banning staff from speaking to journalists. This is a massive corrosion of democracy, a former CDC media relations head has become a whistleblower about the tightening of the controls from one presidential administration to the next.

We continue our battle against human trafficking. Our Guardianship panel will explore how to protect the vulnerable and elderly from massive systemic abuse.

Come to the program on Cash Bail Reform and understand the moral implications of a system that is the racially biased and unjust aspect of our criminal justice system and costs taxpayers billions of dollars a year. You have the power to fix these ills by making your local pretrial dentention system just, fair and equitable.

This workshop will give participants an overview of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Some key discussions will include the origin of the EEOC and a testimonial about how the EEOC mishandles federal employees' complaints.

This workshop will help whistleblowers learn the realistic expectations when seeking help from the OSC and gain a better understanding of the OSC’s procedures and limitations.

The Political Case against Julian Assange, Project Censored's Mickey Huff and Andy Lee Roth engage journalist Kevin Gosztola in conversation about Gosztola's forthcoming book on the Assange extradition case, Guilty of Journalism. This panel will address the impact Assange's case has on whistleblowers and journalism more broadly.

This session provides a positive update and call to action on federal prosecutions begun nearly two decades ago in Alabama that attracted international concern as horrific human rights violations. Featured are Don Siegelman, Alabama’s leading Democrat and former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy, a Republican businessman.

The 10th Annual Whistleblower Summit & Film Festival is proud to announce our Screenplay contest with Final Draft, and our collaboration with Northeast Filmmakers Lab and Bonsai Creative to help you prepare to put your best foot forward. This three-day immersive training will conclude with a “Pitch Contest.” So whether you are a filmmaker, screenwriter or a whistleblower—everything starts with a pitch!

The 10th Annual Whistleblower Summit & Film Festival is proud to announce our Screenplay contest with Final Draft, and our collaboration with Northeast Filmmakers Lab and Bonsai Creative to help you prepare to put your best foot forward. This three-day immersive training will conclude with a “Pitch Contest.” So whether you are a filmmaker, screenwriter or a whistleblower—everything starts with a pitch!

Meltdown tackles the near catastrophe at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania through the lens of chief engineer and whistleblower, Richard Parks, as well as the community it impacted. Dramatic reenactments, archival footage, never-before-seen home video, and in-depth interviews bring viewers into the worst nuclear incident in U.S. history. This third of a four-episode docuseries focuses on the experience of Rick Parks and his attorneys at the Government Accountability Project. These advocates helped him come forward about the willful disregard of safety risks in the cleanup effort of the U.S.'s most infamous nuclear power plant, highlighting the power and importance of whistleblowers in exposing corruption and protecting the public.

TRUTH TELLERS is a film about political artist Robert Shetterly's “Americans Who Tell the Truth”, a project that explores our country’s ongoing struggle to live up to our democratic ideals with those who are not afraid to speak the truth nor challenge the status quo.

This discussion about the riveting Netflix docuseries Meltdown will feature Executive Producers Carla and Michael Shamberg along with whistleblower and nuclear engineer Rick Parks and his attorney, Government Accountability Project Legal Director Tom Devine, and both featured in the acclaimed story about the near catastrophe at Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania. Joining them will be Senator Tammy Duckworth's (D-IL) Legislative Director Benjamin Rhodeside to round out a discussion of how the issues of nuclear safety remain current concerns and the efforts currently being advanced to strengthen legal protections for nuclear whistleblowers.