Host "The Laundromat" Watch Party and Build Your Branch

Publicity still for the 2019 film The Laundromat, directed by Steven Soderbergh, production companies Netflix and Anonymous Content.

By the Women, Money & Democracy Committee.

September 2020

How can a VIRTUAL Community MOVIE NIGHT build your branch and actually help reclaim our democracy? WILPF’s W$D Committee can help make this an easy packaged event for you.

First of all, you need to know that the term “laundromat” is being used by regulatory, criminal investigative teams, and investigative reporters to describe the kinds of white collar billion dollar money-laundering and bogus investment scams being perpetrated on the public by transnational cartels.   

Second, the problem has become so rampant, as described in the Panama Papers, that it’s beginning to threaten our very democracy, along with the financial security of millions of unsuspecting dupes. The whole sordid complicated mess of entangled alliances, corporate greed, and underworld bullies is addressed in this docudrama.

The film The Laundromat is available on Netflix and stars Meryl Streep, Antonio Banderas, and a long list of character actors whose faces you’ll recognize. It’s entertaining AND informative.  But how can it create real change?  

The Women, Money & Democracy Committee is asking branches, individual members and the public to participate in a virtual national MOVIE NIGHT to view the film together, using a new app that Netflix makes available: NetflixPARTY. Then, a few days later, all participants will attend a national Zoom call to talk about the revelations the film described, and what kinds of ACTIONS you could organize locally to follow the money and help drain the swamp, thus helping to protect our democracy.

The W$D Committee has created a whole PACKAGE to make this event easy for you to organize, and successful in your community. The date for the national Watch Party event and national Zoom Discussion have not been set yet, but is being planned for this Fall.  Registering early gives you some input into date selection! 

Contact us to find out how you or your branch can sign up, and how easy it will be to organize.   

Sign Up for Our LAUNDROMAT WATCHPARTY PACKAGE

When you sign up for our “Laundromat Watchparty Package,” you’ll get: 

• A sample digital invitation to send to friends, family, co-workers, faith community members, and your branch lists.  
• Specific easy-to-follow directions about how those folks can access the film, and the date we set for the Watch Party.   
• Technical Assistance, to walk you through the process.
• Specific directions for how your invitees can register for the Zoom discussion. 
• Discussion Questions to help facilitate independent discussions in your community.
• Suggestions for further ACTION that can help address the issues of international, national and local fraud.
• Resources for exploring: 
  • more about how ‘laundromats’ work, 
  • the brave international journalists exposing these scams at great personal risk,
  • the legislative efforts to regulate and eliminate offshore shell corporate fraud and tax evasion,
  • American efforts to follow the money and dismantle the cartel through local legislative advocacy. 

“Our hope is that using this modern youth-oriented means of entertainment will attract new potential members to WILPF, and interest them in the work of our committee,” explains W$D Chair Marybeth Gardam. “It’s dynamic, recreational, and action-oriented too!”

Contact us now to learn how you can participate.