Last week was momentous- The Supreme Court of the United States handed down a non-decision on the pending DAPA/DACA case that resulted in essentially a blow to the policy. In a huge shock, last week also saw that my home country, Britain, decided to exit from the European Union. And more at home, I had some significant changes at my office. Each one of these events will have lasting effects. However, there was one very happy news in the midst of the emotional turmoil. 
Prominent venture capitalist and philanthropist Brad Feld threw his support behind the movie For Here or To Go. Here is his blogpost. If there is one person who understands the powerful message this movie has to offer, it is Brad Feld. He is indeed the original Startup Visa advocate.
For years, Brad had been a strong voice on The Hill advocating for immigration reform and a visa for Startup Up founders. As bills came and died one by one in Congress, Brad took to finding alternative ways to help immigrant entrepreneurs. Today, among other things, he is the one of the founders of the Global Entrepreneur in Residence program that helps immigrant entrepreneurs find a path to starting their businesses in the US. With that kind of experience and passion, it is no surprise he is putting his weight behind the one movie that tells the real story of what is wrong with the current immigration system.
Many of you know I have been supporting this movie for quite some time now. Here is my article about it in The Seattle Globalist. I am privileged to be the Advocacy Consultant to the movie- thank you Rishi Bhilawadikar (writer and producer), Rucha Humnabadkar (director) and Radhika Reddy (co-producer)! I first watched the movie at the Seattle South Asian Film Festival last year. My dear friend Smeeta Hirani insisted I attend because she knew I would love it and love it I did! It is truly an outstanding advocacy tool. Through comedy, humor, romance and story-telling, it shows how flawed the current immigration system is for high-skilled immigrants and why the law needs to change.
But the work doesn’t stop just because the movie is created. The message needs to be spread. The only way to spread it properly is to distribute it to movie theatres. However, that requires a lot of money. To that end, the movie team is trying to raise funds for this bootstrapped lean-mean startup-like budgeted movie to distribute it into theatres particularly before the election so that the voting public can make informed decisions at the voting polls in November 2016.
Brad Feld’s support for the movie is evidence of the huge impact the movie can make. If you are a proponent of immigration reform, reducing the green card backlog, a Startup Visa and much more, then you must support the movie too. The movie needs financial support- no amount is too small or too big. And if inclined to help, please contact Rishi or Brad– they would be delighted to hear from!