
PAFF 2023 Best First Feature Documentary - Nominee
When Ruby Duncan faces harassment by a fraud-obsessed welfare department, she ignites “Mother Power,” mobilizing a welfare rights group to fight for justice, dignity, democratic participation, and an adequate income. When thousands of Las Vegas families are slashed from the rolls, Ruby launches “Operation Nevada” down the famed Strip. Featuring lost archival footage and a cast pivotal in these events, STORMING CAESARS PALACE reveals that it is the disenfranchised who stand up for America’s principle of justice for all. All but forgotten, this nimbly-paced documentary bears witness to how a group of dedicated and determined mothers with little education or funds organized to fight the Goliath of Nevada’s unfair and discriminatory policies and changed America’s social justice landscape forever. The embodiment of “People Power.”
AWARDS:
Shine Award - BlackStar Film Festival - August 2022.
Hazel Gurland-Pooler, first-time filmmaker
- DirectorHazel Gurland-Pooler
- ScreenwriterHazel Gurland-Pooler, Sunita Prasad
- ProducerHazel Gurland-Pooler, Nazenet Habtezghi
- Executive ProducerSally Jo Fifer, Lois Vossen, Leslie Fields-Cruz
- CastRuby Duncan, Mary Wesley, Alversa Beals, George Wiley, Frances Fox Piven, Gloria Steinem
- CinematographerSamuel Russell, Vatsala Goel
- EditorSunita Prasad
- AnimatorPhlea TV
- ComposerWendell Hanes
- Sound DesignString & Can



PAFF 2023 Best First Feature Documentary - Nominee
When Ruby Duncan faces harassment by a fraud-obsessed welfare department, she ignites “Mother Power,” mobilizing a welfare rights group to fight for justice, dignity, democratic participation, and an adequate income. When thousands of Las Vegas families are slashed from the rolls, Ruby launches “Operation Nevada” down the famed Strip. Featuring lost archival footage and a cast pivotal in these events, STORMING CAESARS PALACE reveals that it is the disenfranchised who stand up for America’s principle of justice for all. All but forgotten, this nimbly-paced documentary bears witness to how a group of dedicated and determined mothers with little education or funds organized to fight the Goliath of Nevada’s unfair and discriminatory policies and changed America’s social justice landscape forever. The embodiment of “People Power.”
AWARDS:
Shine Award - BlackStar Film Festival - August 2022.
Hazel Gurland-Pooler, first-time filmmaker
- DirectorHazel Gurland-Pooler
- ScreenwriterHazel Gurland-Pooler, Sunita Prasad
- ProducerHazel Gurland-Pooler, Nazenet Habtezghi
- Executive ProducerSally Jo Fifer, Lois Vossen, Leslie Fields-Cruz
- CastRuby Duncan, Mary Wesley, Alversa Beals, George Wiley, Frances Fox Piven, Gloria Steinem
- CinematographerSamuel Russell, Vatsala Goel
- EditorSunita Prasad
- AnimatorPhlea TV
- ComposerWendell Hanes
- Sound DesignString & Can