Shorewood High School Grad Brings Madison Protests to Big Screen

In the first weeks after Gov. Scott Walker introduced Act 10, thousands upon thousands filled the steps of the Wisconsin State Capitol, spilling political dander onto the streets of Madison.

Filmmaker Aime Williams — a Milwaukee native and Shorewood High School graduate — is bringing the historic, prodigious, prolonged labor protests to the big screen in her full-length documentary “We Are Wisconsin: This is what democracy looks like.”

Williams says the film details the "day-to-day unfolding of public outcry against Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s controversial budget-repair bill, focusing on the human story behind a remarkable popular uprising forged on the floor of the Madison Capitol," according to the film's website.

The legislation curtailed collective bargaining rights for most public employees. .

"The film will also amplify why Wisconsin has become ground zero for so many disparate groups, awakening a sleeping giant of collective voices, alarmed and angry at the new hyper-conservative wave of local government sweeping the Midwest," the film's website says. 

Williams has been producing films for 25 years all over the world. She has spent much of her career as a filmmaker covering stories about workers, immigrants and human rights. She said what she encountered in Wisconsin "brought it all back home."

The film can be downloaded on the film's website.