As we close 2020, we want to take the opportunity to thank you for your ongoing partnership. Below are just a few highlights of what MPI accomplished this year thanks to your support. 

• The MPI Original Film A Piece of Cake was accepted into dozens of festivals including seven that are Oscar-qualifying—the Tribeca Film Festival, the Cleveland International Film Festival, the HollyShorts Film Festival, the Show Me Shorts Film Festival, the Edmonton International Film Festival, the Foyle Film Festival, and the Indy Shorts International Film Festival. It was nominated for Best Narrative Short at Tribeca, won Best Comedy and the Audience Choice Award in Comedy at Indy Shorts, and won the Wedgie Award for Best Comedy at Edmonton.
• We released 5 Reasons Why We Need Sweden’s Democratic Socialism (a comedic take on why politicians like Bernie Sanders, AOC, and Kamala Harris are wrong about Sweden’s economy). The film went viral and continues to resonate with audiences having earned more than 1.5 million total views; 52,000 likes; 46,000 shares; 15,600 comments; and more than 5 million minutes of total watch time.
• The MPI team and partners organized 109 grassroots screenings and more than two dozen online watch parties for the MPI Original Film Miss Virginia with parents, community leaders, state-based education reform partners, church groups, educators, and elected officials. The film is now streaming in hundreds of millions of homes on over 1,000 digital streaming platforms in more than 91 countries!
• MPI trained and supported 61 freedom-minded filmmakers (47 fellows and 14 interns) through the MPI Rising Filmmaker Program. This includes paid internships at major production companies, grants, and workshops on screenwriting, directing, cinematography, and editing. Learn more about MPI’s talent programs and hear from MPI filmmakers in our latest video below!
• We secured the life rights for three new feature film projects and have already attached award-winning writer-directors to two of them: Oscar nominee Dianne Houston for Freedom Hair: The Melony Armstrong Story and Austin and Meredith Bragg (who are also producers at Reason TV and have had great success with A Piece of Cake) for Pinball: The Man Who Saved the Game. We will soon be announcing a writer-director for the BET and MPI Original Film The Kemba Smith Story.
• We acquired three new MPI Original short films, which were developed in the MPI Short Film Creative Development and Production Lab: Infraction which is a drama that touches on the themes of criminal justice reform and civil rights, Melons which is a comedic short tackling cancel culture, and Unloaded which is a zany comedy touching on everything from Second Amendment issues and cancel culture to political correctness.
• More than 630 participants registered for our first Short Break with MPI event which took place last Wednesday and featured A Piece of Cake followed by a discussion with MPI filmmakers The Bragg Brothers. 

Thank you again for partnering with MPI on what has been another record year. 2021 promises to be even more impactful, and we look forward to keeping you updated on our progress in the new year.