National 'Better Together Film Festival' Brings Communities Together Throughout July 2026

Across America, neighbors are coming together to watch films and have conversations that inspire connection and problem solving.

JACKSONVILLE, FL, UNITED STATES, July 9, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Throughout this month, July 2026, in alignment with America’s 250th Anniversary – dozens of communities across the country are hosting free film screening and conversation events as part of the third annual Better Together Film Festival.

This national-scale, decentralized film festival offers local community leaders an opportunity to gather neighbors to screen films that model people coming together across differences to solve problems, explore common values, and rebuild trust. After the film ends, audience members turn to each other to have a conversation about the film and how it relates to their own experiences. Through this process, each local event aims to help shift the culture in their community by inspiring curiosity among participants, helping to move people away from division and hatred, toward cohesion and hope.

“We have an incredible lineup of eight films participating in the festival this year,” says Karissa Raskin, Director of the Better Together Film Festival and CEO of Listen First Project, the national nonprofit organizing the initiative. “Each film grapples with a different issue – religious divides, environmentalism, public school policies, race relations, and homelessness, to name a few – but they all tell an inspiring story of people rising above their divisions to treat each other with dignity and ultimately work together to strengthen their communities.”

The eight films selected for the festival include:

9/11: Reclaiming Ground Zero
A Binding Truth
Abraham's Bridge
Breaking the Cycle
Creede, USA
My Omaha
The [Conserv]atives
The Question

Better Together Film Festival events are being hosted by local partners in all regions of the country throughout the month. Libraries, faith institutions, community centers, local theaters, breweries and other community-based organizations have signed up as hosting partners because they want to help heal their communities and foster opportunity for connection and conversation between neighbors.
Details about the films featured in the festival, as well as the full list of participating cities and information about how to register for local events can be found here.

At a time when Americans’ trust in others - and in our institutions - is at an all time low, and our media is plagued by toxically polarizing narratives, the social fabric of our nation can feel beyond repair. But this year in particular – the 250th anniversary year of our nation’s founding – we are called to remember that the American story has always been written by everyday people stepping up to strengthen their communities and our country. It is through story that we understand ourselves, others, and the world in which we live. Stories have the power to bring us together but also pull us apart.

"Now is a time for Americans to hear, see, and experience stories of people coming together across their differences to solve problems together in their neighborhoods and in their communities. As a nation we must choose curiosity over contempt, dialogue over demonization, and empathy over apathy,” says Raskin. “The Better Together Film Festival offers this opportunity by inspiring strength and sparking conversation among neighbors so we can turn down the heat and find a way forward together."

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The Better Together Film Festival is a campaign by the Listen First Project, the backbone support organization for the bridging divides movement in America. Listen First Project supports a Coalition of over 550 organizations working to turn down the heat of division and build trust, understanding, belonging and solutions in our communities. The festival is supported by the donations and volunteer hours of Americans committed to healing our country.

Karissa Raskin
Listen First Project
karissa@listenfirstproject.org

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