Introduction
Insider–outsider activism refers to the dynamic interplay between two complementary strategies for creating social and political change. Insider activists work within institutions—such as government, media, or large organisations—to influence policy, shift narratives, and implement reforms from the inside. In contrast, outsider activists operate externally, using tactics like protests, public campaigns, and grassroots organising to apply pressure, raise awareness, and mobilise communities.
Insider–outsider activism combines working within institutions to influence change (insiders) with external pressure through protests and campaigns (outsiders). When coordinated, these strategies can reinforce each other and drive lasting impact.
Here is a list of films that depict insider-outsider activism. This list has been sourced from this valuable resource – Films & Documentaries for Campaigners with a few more added. The author of this list is unknown. (If this is you, a big thank you and please contact us).
This list is especially valuable as the author identifies which tools – such as Four Roles of Social Change, Spectrum of Allies, Pillars of Support – are connected to each film or documentary.
The list also includes more films than listed below on the following topics:
- Organizing and Strategy
- Labor Organizing
- Whirlwind Moments and National Uprisings
Films
All the Way
Lyndon B. Johnson becomes the President of the United States in the chaotic aftermath of John F. Kennedy’s assassination, and spends his first year in office fighting to pass the Civil Rights Act. It portrays President Johnson and Dr. King negotiating behind the scenes.
For more: Wikipedia page for All the Way or the IMDb page for All the Way
Argentina, 1985
‘Argentina, 1985’ is inspired by the true story of Julio Strassera, Luis Moreno Ocampo and their young legal team of unlikely heroes in their David-vs-Goliath battle to prosecute Argentina’s bloodiest military dictatorship to bring justice to the victims of the Military Junta.
Tools: Four Roles of Social Change, Spectrum of Allies, Pillars of Support
Watch: Amazon
Dark Waters
Dramatizes what happens when a corporate lawyer turns against his corporate employers to sue DuPont on behalf of farmers who have been intentionally poisoned, and the impacts of using legal strategies against a small town’s largest employer.
Tools: Four Roles of Social Change, Spectrum of Allies, Pillars of Support
Watch: Netflix, Prime Video
Erin Brockovich
A legal assistant (insider) partners with affected residents (outsiders) to fight corporate pollution, showing how community voices and institutional tools combine.
Watch: Amazon Prime
The Insider
A film about Jeffrey Wigand, a tobacco company executive, who blows the whistle on the tobacco industry.
Dramatizes the work of a journalist to convince a tobacco industry insider to go public with information showing the company knowingly engaged in illegal or unethical business practices.
Tools: Four Roles of Social Change
Watch: Amazon Prime, Apple TV
For more: Movie to Management — “The Insider”
Marshall
Portrays a particular case that Thurgood Marshall took on in a Southern town, and demonstrates the limitations of using the courts without an outside game persuasion strategy.
Tools: Four Roles of Social Change, Spectrum of Allies, Pillars of Support
Watch: Amazon Prime
For more: Thurgood Marshall: Activist, judge and the story of his quest for racial justice in America
Milk
Although much more of a personal biography than a “movement film”, it chronicles Harvey Milk’s conversion from outside agitator, to inside rebel, to politician attempting to use legislation to protect LGBTQ people.
Watch: YouTube
On the Basis of Sex
A trailblazing young Ruth Bader Ginsburg takes up a case of sex-based discrimination in an attempt to shatter the status quo. It’s a fast-paced account of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s career and of one particularly effective legal strategy.
Tools: Four Roles of Social Change
Watch: YouTube
The Post
A stirring drama from director Steven Spielberg inspired by the true story of The Washington Post’s efforts to publish highly classified documents detailing a decades-long cover-up of government secrets about the Vietnam War. Journalists (outsiders) pressuring the U.S. government while insiders leak information.
Watch: Youtube, Amazon Prime
For more: New York Times Review: In ‘The Post,’ Democracy Survives the Darkness
The Report
The Report draws on a dark chapter in American history to offer a sober, gripping account of one public servant’s crusade for accountability. It portrays a bureaucrat attempting to use research on a Senate committee to change the course of the Iraq war.
Watch: Amazon Prime
Trumbo
Blacklisted from Hollywood for his political affiliations, screenwriter Dalton Trumbo fights against his unjust barring from the industry. It asks the question, how can we hold to our beliefs when we come under intense pressure to distance ourselves from them? What obligation do we have to undermine or support those inflicting pain on others through our individual actions? What does it mean to have integrity? And, crucially, what do we owe to those closest to us?
Tools: Four Roles of Social Change, Spectrum of Allies, Pillars of Support
Watch: YouTube, Amazon Prime
The Vote
The Vote tells the dramatic story of the hard-fought campaign waged by American women for the right to vote, a transformative cultural and political movement that resulted in the largest expansion of voting rights in U.S. history. It portrays distinct stages and phases of a movement across multiple campaigns, with their own distinct arcs and shows an effective rebel organization emerging from frustration with a dominant inside-game advocate group.
Tools: Four Roles of Social Change, Spectrum of Allies, Tactical escalation, Winning in stages, Dilemma demonstrations
Watch: Kanopy, Amazon Prime
Documentaries
Brazen Hussies
Chronicles the Australian Women’s Liberation Movement, showing how activists used both direct action (outsider) and policy engagement (insider) to advance gender equality.
Watch: Brazen Hussies website
End of the Line
Account of a successful multi-strategy campaign to stop the Kentucky Bluegrass Pipeline from being built. Shows importance of changing the public narrative and utilizing an inside/outside strategy.
Tools: Four Roles of Social Change, Pillars of Support, Winning in Stages
Watch: Vimeo
For more: Interview: Sellus Wilder on how grassroots activism helped stop the Bluegrass Pipeline
How to Survive a Plague
Faced with their own mortality, an improbable group of mostly HIV-positive young men and women broke the mold as radical warriors taking on Washington and the medical establishment. This doco is the story of how activism and innovation turned AIDS from a death sentence into a manageable condition.
It portrays examples of dramatic direct actions and dilemma demonstrations, of high-stakes organizing strategy being debated in real time, and of moving an inside and outside game.
Tools: Four Roles of Social Change, Spectrum of Allies, Tactical Escalation, Winning in Stages, Dilemma demonstrations
Watch: Docplay
For more: How to Survive a Plague website
Mabo
A biopic about Eddie Mabo, who led a legal fight (insider strategy) to overturn terra nullius, supported by decades of community and activist campaigning (outsider).
Philly DA
In 2017 Philly elected the first big-city progressive district attorney, who then let a documentary team have total access to the office’s strategy conversations over the next three years. Portrays how the “inside game” works, and how “outside game” forces play into the conversations elected officials have behind closed doors.
Tools: Four Roles of Social Change, Spectrum of Allies, Pillars of Support
Watch: Docplay
To the End
A chronicle of the two years following Sunrise’s “launch” action sit-in inside Nancy Pelosi’s office. Portrays the difficulty of filling gaps in the ecosystem as a rebel, an organizer and an advocate, and the unpredictability that is leading a mass movement while adapting to a fast-changing political reality.
Tools: Four Roles of Social Change, Spectrum of Allies
Skill Up for Insider-Outsider Activism
- Map your movement and choose your role using Bill Moyer’s Four Roles of Social Change.
- Work effectively with people playing different roles in social change: Coalition Building: Start Here
- Strengthen your skills for Insider Activism: Lobbying and Advocacy: Start Here
- Strengthen your skills for Outsider Activism: Nonviolent Direct Action (NVDA): Start Here and Organising: Start Here
Explore Further
- Films and Documentaries about Social Justice, Movements, Victories and Leaders
- Documentary Films for Social Change
- Learning from Experience: Activist Reflections on ‘Insider-Outsider’ Strategies
- Insider Activism
Insider activism covers examples of concerned citizens participating in activism within or against the institutions they work in. This report explores if insider activism could be utilised in animal advocacy. - Organising! A Remedy for Despair: How Workers at the University of Melbourne won back $45 million in Stolen Wages
A campaign that combined ‘Inside Track’ processes with ‘Outside Track’ channels. - Institutional Activism: Reconsidering the Insider/Outsider Dichotomy
Article by David Pettinicchio. Social movements are conventionally understood as a means by which groups seek to resolve collective grievances outside of the regular political process. With this in mind, I explore the important role of “institutional activists”– insiders with access to resources and power – who proactively take up causes that overlap with those of grassroots challengers. This article focuses on the history of, and recent developments in, the study of institutional activism, situating the concept within existing social movement theory and providing examples of the varying roles of institutional activists in mobilization. - Advancing Reform: Embedded Activism to Develop Climate Solutions
Investigation of how a network of embedded activists can operate to advance reform efforts across diverse organizations. - From Streets to Suits: The Inside(r)s and Outside(r)s of ACT UP/LA (Book chapter)
- Conversations on Insider Activism Civil servants & social justice activism in the municipality of Rotterdam (thesis)
- Books to Read if you are Interested in Activism, Social Change & Justice