2008 DC Labor Filmfest at the American Film Institute  

8th Annual DC Labor Filmfest at the AFI

More than two dozen films about work and workers will screen at this year's 8th annual DC Labor FilmFest. The main FilmFest runs October 9-14 at the American Film Institute (AFI), with a series of free screenings kicking off this Thursday, September 11 with a showing of "Fired!" introduced by noted writer Barbara Ehrenreich. The DC Labor FilmFest is presented by the Metro Washington Council, AFL-CIO, the Debs-Jones-Douglass Institute and the AFI, with major sponsorship support from American Income Life. See below for the full AFI schedule and descriptions of each film; click here for upcoming free labor film screenings.

To purchase tickets online, click here.

See Below for Schedule and film descriptions.

Thursday, October 9

7P: Stop-Loss
9:40P: The Promotion

Friday, October 10

6:45P: Man Push Cart
8:40P: Chop Shop
10:30P: Office Space

12:45P: CANCELLED: The Missing Star (Replaced by another screening of Stop-Loss)
3:00P: The Crowd (with LIVE accompaniment)
5:10P: Note by Note: The Making of Steinway L1037 (with Director Ben Niles)
7:05P: Kabluey (with The Planning Lady)
9:00P: The Promotion 
10:45P: Office Space

Sunday, October 12

1:00P: 9 Star Hotel 
2:45P: Modern Times
4:40P: Great World of Sound
7:00P: CANCELLED: End of the Line (Replaced by another screening of Kabluey)
9:00P: Office Space

9:45P: Great World of Sound

6:30P: Chop Shop

CHOP SHOP (Directed by Ramin Bahrani; 2007, US, 84m)
Dreams in the scrapyards of Queens
A near-perfect film without a wasted shot or a false moment, Chop Shop is the story of Alejandro (Alejandro Polanco), a twelve-year-old Latino street orphan in Willet’s Point, also known as the "Iron Triangle," a vibrant, sprawling, industrial neighborhood teeming with auto-body repair shops, scrap yards, and garbage dumps on the outskirts of Queens, New York. Alejandro, like many young boys in the area, works at one of the many auto body repair shops that line the street, spending his days in an adult world, running errands, convincing customers to come to his boss's garage instead of a competitor's, and learning how to paint and repair cars. Despite harsh conditions, the boy’s life is sprinkled with moments of happiness as he carves out a life for himself in the wasteland of the Iron Triangle, in the shadow of a glittering Shea Stadium. Intimate, heartbreaking and yet ultimately hopeful, Chop Shop is a portrait of a young boy navigating his way through a chaotic adult world. Set in a stunning and unique location, it is subtle and simple, but tells a profound story about the people who live, work, and dream there. For more info on the film, click here.
Friday October 10, 8:40P (AFI); Thursday, Octboer 15, 6:30P (AFI)

THE CROWD (Directed by King Vidor; 1928, US, 104m)
King Vidor’s timeless silent film masterpiece about an American Everyman
This realistic, bittersweet drama of the day-to-day existence of an ordinary American is as relevant today as it was when it first appeared in 1928, just before the Great Crash of ’29. Director King Vidor’s timeless silent American film masterpiece speaks to us seventy years later as we see John (James Murray), an Everyman white-collar worker, trying to survive in the big city, where he and his wife must cope with cramped living conditions, a boring job and a limited life with regret and bitterness. (Tim Dirks)
Saturday, October 11 3P (AFI)

END OF THE LINE (Fim da Linha) (Directed by Gustavo Steinberg; 2008, Brazil, 75m)
What happens when people put their faith in the absolute power of money?
A World Bank official supposedly said that the only way to really share the wealth in Brazil would be to throw money from a helicopter. End of The Line takes this idea literally and spins it into a clever black comedy. A series of seemingly unrelated events turn out to be closely interwoven: an Indian tribe goes on strikes, refusing to perform their rain dance; a drought creates a power blackout, and a journalist is working on a documentary about Charles Ponzi, the inventor of the pyramid fraud. Meanwhile, a politician keeps winning the lottery, a baby goes missing and money rains from the sky. Everything comes together in an exciting parable about what happens when people put their faith in the absolute power of money. Click here for more info on the film.
CANCELLED: Sunday, October 12, 7P (AFI) (Replaced by another screening of Kabluey)

GREAT WORLD OF SOUND (Directed by Craig Zobel; 2007, US, 106m)
Conning the con-men
Acclaimed at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, this unique American indie plays like a mix of Glengarry Glen Ross and American Idol. A close-up look at the practice of ‘song sharking’, the story focuses on pensive Martin (Pat Healy) and garrulous Clarence (Kene Holliday), salesmen recruited by a shady record label to seek out new talent‚ and sell phony recording deals. At first oblivious to the scam, the duo soon realize they’re being conned just like the musicians. “Its sense of place, of lonely hotel rooms and fly-by-night offices decorated with spray-painted gold records, is as nicely observed as its morally compromised characters.” (Manohla Dargis, The New York Times). For more on the film, click here. Note courtesy Rochester Labor Film Series.
Sunday, October 12, 4:40P (AFI); Wednesday, October 14, 9:45P (AFI)

KABLUEY (Directed by Scott Prendergast; 2007, US, 86m)
Visually arresting and brilliantly funny
Salman (Scott Prendergast) is paid $6 an hour to stand on the side of a highway in a blue foam-rubber suit as Kabluey, the corporate mascot of BlueNexion, a failing Internet company in Texas. Though Salman has a hard time doing his job – the fliers he’s supposed to pass out keep slipping out of his inflated blue paws – he manages to find “an odd kind of transcendence in the work. He becomes two people: one a lost 32-year-old boy cowering inside the suit, the other the adorable, bobbing and shuffling Kabluey who inspires cuddly affection,” writes Stephen Holden in The New York Times, adding that Kabluey “portrays a demoralized American work force fearfully going through the motions of life while waiting without much hope for things to get better.” Click here for more on the film.
Saturday, October 11, 7:05P (AFI); Sunday, October 12 7P (AFI) (Replaces The Missing Star)

MAN PUSH CART (Directed by Ramin Bahrani; 2005, US, 87m)
The complex lives behind everyday faces
Ahmad (Ahmad Razvi) a former Pakistani rock singer ekes out a living selling coffee and donuts to morning commuters from his push cart in Midtown Manhattan. Ahmad supplements his income by selling bootleg porn DVDs, carefully saving his money to afford a place where he might be able to live with his estranged young son. It is a harsh, often humiliating life, but Ahmad carries on with a stoic dignity until the dull routine of his life is brightened by the arrival of a young Spanish woman (Leticia Dolera) working down the street in a newspaper kiosk and an offer of assistance from a wealthy fellow Pakistani (Charles Daniel Sandoval). While Ahmad pursues these two new possibilities at a better life, the film returns regularly to the act of him setting up his cart in the early morning darkness: his preparations for opening, the other immigrants who prepare the city in the middle of the night, his exchanges with his customers as they buy coffee, tea and bagels from him. This gives Man Push Cart a deliberate rhythm as it explores the complex and hidden depths of the character, who we learn is desperately hanging on to his small dreams in the midst of grief and despair. Click here for more on the film.
Friday, October 10, 6:45P (AFI)

MODERN TIMES  (Directed by Charles Chaplin, 1936, US, 87m)
Charlie Chaplin's finest and funniest film
As a big city factory worker, the Little Tramp confronts the mechanized world in what may be Chaplin's finest and funniest film. The perfectly crafted physical humor has delighted audiences for decades, while Chaplin's vision of the common man adjusting to a newly industrialized and urbanized world makes this one of the most thought-provoking motion pictures of the depression era. Note courtesy Rochester Labor Film Series.
Sunday, October 12, 2:45P (AFI)

9 STAR HOTEL (Malon 9 Kochavim) (Directed by Ido Haar; 2007, Israel 78m)
A devastating portrait of young Palestinian workers caught in an economic and political maelstrom beyond their control
Thousands of Palestinians have been forced to cross borders into neighboring Israel, seeking work as day laborers in construction. Director Haar follows his subjects closely as a group of nomadic young men flee from police, risk their lives, and sleep in cardboard boxes each night while they build luxury housing for others by day. 9 Star Hotel is a devastating documentary portrait of young men caught in an economic and political maelstrom not of their own making — their dreams subsumed by the hard reality of day-to-day survival. Note courtesy Rochester Labor Film Series.
Sunday, October 12, 1P (AFI)

NOTE BY NOTE: THE MAKING OF STEINWAY L1037 (Directed by Ben Niles; 2007, US, 81m)
A loving celebration of vanishing craftsmanship
Can craftsmanship survive in an age of mass-production and consumption? The most thoroughly handcrafted instruments in the world, Steinway pianos are as unique and full of personality as the world-class musicians who play them. However, their makers – members of IUE-CWA Local 81-102 -- are a dying breed: skilled cabinet-makers, gifted tuners, thorough hand-crafters. Note By Note follows the creation of a Steinway concert grand from forest floor to concert hall, exploring the relationship between musician and instrument, chronicling the manufacturing process, and illustrating what makes each Steinway unique in this age of mass production. Filmed in key Steinway locations, Note By Note is a loving celebration of not just craftsmanship, but of a vanishing breed of craft workers deeply connected to working by hand. Features interviews and performances with a number of world-class artists including Chinese phenom Lang Lang, Hélène Grimaud, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, contemporary singer Harry Connick, Jr. and jazz greats Hank Jones, Marcus Roberts, Kenny Barron and Bill Charlap. Click here for more on the film.
Saturday, October 11, 5:10P (AFI)

OFFICE SPACE (With Red Stapler Raffle!) (Directed by Mike Judge; 1999, US, 89m)
Work Sucks
A perennial DC Labor FilmFest favorite, the outrageously funny Office Space returns with Gary Cole as the Boss From Hell and Ron Livingston starring in this twisted tale of a fed-up nine-to-fiver who decides to extract financial justice from Initech, the computer company he works for with the help of office mates Samir Nagheenanajar and Michael Bolton (no, not that Michael Bolton!).  Ignored upon its theatrical release, director Mike Judge’s first theatrical debut has gone on to become a cult classic. The screenings feature a raffle of Office Space paraphernalia, including Milton’s precious red Swingline stapler. Click here for more on the film.
Friday, October 10, 10:30P (AFI); Saturday, October 11 10:45P (AFI); Sunday, October 12 9P (AFI)

THE PROMOTION (Directed by Steve Conrad; 2008, US, 85m)
You can’t always get what you want…
A low-key comedy about the high-stakes battle for a better job. Doug Stauber (Seann William Scott) is a shoe-in to be manager at the new Donaldson’s grocery store until jovial Canadian Richard Welhner  (Richard C. Reilly) rides into town. Naive yet ambitious, Richard listens to motivational tapes on his way to work, but fails miserably during a bonding exercise at a work retreat. Doug, on the other hand, is disgruntled, insecure and needs the promotion to pay for his wife’s expensive dream home. The two men, both essentially nice guys, are forced to compete ruthlessly for the coveted position, goaded into betraying themselves by engaging in dirty tricks in a comedic head-to-head battle of wills. Click here for more on the film.
Thursday, October 9, 9:40P (AFI); Saturday, October 11, 9P (AFI)
 
STOP-LOSS (Directed by Kimberly Pierce; 2008, US, 112m)
“I’m just trying to do my job.”
What happens when your boss breaks your contract? If he’s the President of the United States, you’ve got a problem. When decorated Iraq war hero Sgt. Brandon King (Ryan Phillippe) makes a celebrated return to his small Texas hometown following his tour of duty, he tries to resume the life he left behind. But when the Army orders him back to duty in Iraq against his will – the President has invoked “Stop-loss,” the involuntary extension of a service member's active duty -- the conflict tests everything he believes in: the bond of family, the loyalty of friendship, the limits of love and the value of honor. In August 2007, Iraq Veterans Against the War, an activist organization of former and current service members, announced a national "Stop the Stop-Loss" campaign during a week-long vigil in a tower erected on the National Mall; other anti-Stop-Loss vigils have occurred in Bellingham, Washington, and Colorado Springs, Colorado. In March of this year, a group of college students, supported by Code Pink and Iraq Veterans Against the War, as well as several other organizations, issued symbolic stop-loss "orders" to every member of both the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate in protest of both the practice of stop-lossing and of the Iraq War. The students "enforced" the orders by blocking off the exits to the parking garages of the Rayburn House Office Building and the Hart Senate Office Building. Click here for more on the film.
Thursday night screening co-sponsored by DC Labor for Peace and Justice/USLAW, Military Families Speak Out, OPEIU Local 2 Social Justice Committee, Pride At Work, Labor Caucus and Peace Caucus (in official relations to the American Public Health Association), Veterans, Military Families for Progress, Democrats.com, Maryland United for Peace and Justice, No War, No Warming, Pax Christi Metro DC, Baltimore Washington Peace Center, Progressive Democrats of America, Peace Action Montgomery
Thursday, October 9, 7P (AFI); Saturday, October 12, 12:45P (AFI)