Feature documentary · 2018
#MyNameIs.
The global fight against Facebook's discriminatory "real name policy" — a movement led by drag performers, domestic abuse survivors, immigrants, artists, political activists, Native Americans, African Americans, and the LGBTQ community to maintain their safety and authentic identities online.
Director. BAVC National MediaMaker Fellow, 2016.
Trailer · #MyNameIs
Synopsis.
In 2014, Facebook enforced a "real name" policy that locked thousands of users out of their accounts overnight. The casualties were not anonymous trolls. They were drag queens, transgender people, Native American elders, domestic abuse survivors, sex workers, immigrants, artists, and political activists — anyone whose authentic name didn't match a government ID, or whose authentic name was the one thing they couldn't safely use.
#MyNameIs follows the global movement that pushed back. From the first San Francisco protests organized by Sister Roma and the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, to coalitions with the EFF, ACLU, and dozens of community organizations, to the policy concessions Facebook eventually made — the film asks who gets to decide what counts as a real person, and what happens when a platform's idea of identity collides with the lived reality of marginalized communities.
Featuring drag performers, transgender activists, Native American leaders, immigrant rights organizers, and Holocaust survivors, the film moves between the streets of the Castro, the boardrooms of Menlo Park, and the global organizing campaigns that followed.
Credits & recognition.
- Director
Jethro Patalinghug
- 2016BAVC National MediaMaker Fellowship
Fellow · #MyNameIs