American Dignity (2025 Oscar-Qualified Documentary Short Film)

Academy Screening Room Synopsis:

After the fraught 2024 election, a voting rights activist and a Bloody Sunday veteran meet on the Edmund Pettus Bridge to explore how one keeps marching when history repeats itself. Their journey traces the ongoing fight for American dignity.

www.wecrossthebridge.com

In the aftermath of the 2024 presidential election, voting rights organizer Charles Douglas III finds himself at a crossroads—disquieted and questioning the future of his community and the movement he has helped lead. Seeking clarity, he turns to civil rights veteran Charles Mauldin, who, at just 17, was sixth in line during the historic 1965 march across Selma’s Edmund Pettus Bridge.

As the two men walk and talk—across decades and generations—they wrestle with what it means to keep going when history seems to repeat itself. Their conversations unearth hard-won lessons from young activists who, sixty years earlier, refused to pause their fight for democratic dignity, even in the face of violent resistance and deep uncertainty.

Determined to honor that legacy, Douglas returns to the streets—not just to reflect, but to act. In early January 2025, during the first major election since November, he knocks on doors across Virginia, urging voters to show up for their state’s future. His organizing unfolds in real time, a testament to the unglamorous but vital work of democracy.

Filmed during the first weeks of 2025, American Dignity captures a nation in flux, culminating on the streets of Washington, D.C., where Inauguration Day and Martin Luther King Jr. Day converge. This short documentary is both a snapshot of a critical moment and a meditation on the enduring tension between progress and backlash. It explores the weight of history on those who carry it, the cost of standing still, and the quiet resolve it takes to keep marching—no matter what lies ahead.

I was drawn to make American Dignity because history doesn’t simply live in the past—it moves through us, shaping how we act today. In this film, Charles Mauldin and Charles Douglas III stand at opposite ends of history yet walk the same road: one, a foot soldier on Bloody Sunday who never stopped marching, the other, a modern organizer who knocks on doors to protect the hard-won right to vote. Their voices -- free of narration, almost as if an on-the-scene podcast conversation --drive the story, making it clear that movements cannot depend on singular heroes. They must be sustained by the many, by those willing to step up—again and again.

With American Dignity, I wanted to explore how we lead during historic, transformative moments, and the responsibility each generation inherits when doing so. The work is never finished, and what we do now will determine what remains.

I’m an Emmy Award-winning journalist, filmmaker, and storytelling strategist focused on leadership, resilience, and transformative movements. Born in London and raised in America and Canada, I have reported from conflict zones as an NBC News war correspondent in the Middle East and have spent my career exploring the power of narrative in times of change. Now professionally based in Seattle, I directed the critically acclaimed documentaries Independent America and Rising from Ruins, which examine self-reliance, recovery, and community-driven change. With American Dignity, I continue my examination of how history, courage, and community leadership shape our democratic future. -- Hanson Hosein, Director