2008 Free Friday Film Series  

Below are films previously screened as part of this year's DC Labor Filmfest Free Friday Film Series.

At The River I Stand (1994, 58m)
Screened Friday, January 25
Documents the 1968 Memphis sanitation workers' strike and the historical forces which came together with the death of Dr. Martin Luther King. Special screening in honor of Martin Luther King Day. Introduced by AFSCME Secretary-Treasurer and Coalition of Black Trade Unionists (CBTU) President Bill Lucy, who worked closely with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during the historic 1968 Memphis sanitation workers strike documented in the film.

A. Philip Randolph: For Jobs and Freedom
Screened Friday, February 22 
The Attorney General of the United States called him "the most dangerous Negro in America." He forced President Roosevelt to integrate the armed forces, won the first-ever contract for a Black union and was the moving force behind the historic 1963 March on Washington. In celebration of Black History Month, the DC Labor FilmFest will show the 1996 documentary "A. Philip Randolph: For Jobs and Freedom."

Mother Jones: America's
Most Dangerous Woman (2007, 23 min)
Screened March 14, 26, & 28 & April 16
Mother Jones: America's Most Dangerous Woman is a new 23 minute documentary about the amazing labor heroine, Mary Harris Jones, known as Mother Jones. The documentary shows how Mother Jones' organizing career influenced the history of early 20th century United States.  Featuring historian Elliott Gorn, leading biographer of Mother Jones, it shows how Mother Jones used class and gender boundaries to shape an identity that allowed her to become an effective labor organizer in the early 20th century. Mother Jones transformed personal and political grief and rage into an effective persona that led workers into battles that changed the course of history.  The documentary evokes the terrible conditions and labor oppression that motivated her to traverse the country, mobilizing thousands to fight back. A moving "music video" of the "Ludlow massacre," focusing on  her role in those events brings to life a forgotten vista of brutalities that faced immigrant laborers in the United States in the previous century.  The film uses authentic photographs and live footage, including the only known film of Mother Jones on her deathbed, proclaiming that she is still a "radical" and "longs for the day when labor will have the destination of the nation in her own hands."

Fired! (2007, 70m)
Screened Wednesday, April 16
Getting fired by Woody Allen was just the beginning for actress Annabelle Gurwitch, who Barbara Ehrenreich says "transformed her misery into a hot and sour chicken soup for the laid off soul."  Trying to cope with being fired by a cultural icon, Gurwitch discovered she wasn't alone and brings us side-splitting tales of being fired from Tim Allen, Felicity Huffman, Jeff Garlin and more, as well as the less-humorous aspects of job insecurity that include attending job fairs, career retraining classes, outplacement workshops and meeting with human resource directors.

Women Organize! (30 min)
Screened Friday, April 18
Women Organize! is an inspirational, half hour video that portrays women organizers across the U.S. who are involved in the global struggles for racial, social, and economic justice.

Sicko (2007, 123m, directed by Michael Moore)
Screened Friday, April 25
Academy Award winning filmmaker Michael Moore applies his usual sharp-edged satirical style to America's dysfunctional healthcare system, using humor to tell compelling stories of everyday people faced with extraordinary and bizarre challenges in their quest for basic health coverage. More than just a film, the documentary has become a stunningly effective organizing tool as healthcare advocates have used it as to enrage, educate and mobilize activists across the country. Special screening in conjunction with the AFL-CIO Health Care Campaign's Spring Lift-Off Action Plan, with hundreds of Labor Councils nationwide focusing on this issue during the month of April.

Grassroots Rising (2005, 56m, directed by Robert C. Winn)
Screened Wednesday, May 7
An evocative exploration of Asian Pacific Islander working families in Los Angeles.  The film weaves together powerful interviews and live action footage with moving labor murals and a lyrical narration by spoken word artist Alison de la Cruz and the voices of low wage Asian immigrants at the forefront of worker-led movements to build a just community in Los Angeles.  Grassroots Rising shares stories from a sprawling multilingual Los Angeles that is the sweatshop capital of the United States and the home for several of the largest Asian communities outside of their home countries. From Thai garment workers to restaurant and supermarket workers in Koreatown and Pilipino home healthcare workers, the working families in Grassroots Rising are not passive victims, but instead are reshaping the city through their activism.