FALL 2020 ONLINE LABOR FILM SERIES
Organized and sponsored by the DC LaborFest/DC Labor FilmFest
Co-sponsored by American University’s Center for Media & Social Impact, Coalition of Labor Union Women, Labor Heritage Foundation, Rochester Labor Film Series
OVERVIEW: (all screenings 7p via Zoom)
Wednesday, September 2: THE ARTIST AND STATE: POLITICAL ART IN MEXICO AND THE U.S.
Tuesday, September 8: SUFFRAGETTES IN THE SILENT CINEMA
Wednesday, September 9: REDES LIVES!
Thursday, September 10: WAGING CHANGE
Tuesday, September 15: NAE PASARAN
Tuesday, September 22: PATSY MINK: AHEAD OF THE MAJORITY
Thursday, September 24: RESISTERHOOD
Tuesday, September 29: QUEEN SUGAR (to be rescheduled)
Tuesday, October 6: CHISHOLM '72: UNBOUGHT AND UNBOSSED
Tuesday, October 13: IN THE AISLES
Tuesday, October 20: NO TIME TO WASTE - THE URGENT MISSION OF BETTY REID SOSKIN
Tuesday, October 27: ATLANTICS
Co-sponsored by American University’s Center for Media & Social Impact, Coalition of Labor Union Women, Labor Heritage Foundation, Rochester Labor Film Series
OVERVIEW: (all screenings 7p via Zoom)
Wednesday, September 2: THE ARTIST AND STATE: POLITICAL ART IN MEXICO AND THE U.S.
Tuesday, September 8: SUFFRAGETTES IN THE SILENT CINEMA
Wednesday, September 9: REDES LIVES!
Thursday, September 10: WAGING CHANGE
Tuesday, September 15: NAE PASARAN
Tuesday, September 22: PATSY MINK: AHEAD OF THE MAJORITY
Thursday, September 24: RESISTERHOOD
Tuesday, September 29: QUEEN SUGAR (to be rescheduled)
Tuesday, October 6: CHISHOLM '72: UNBOUGHT AND UNBOSSED
Tuesday, October 13: IN THE AISLES
Tuesday, October 20: NO TIME TO WASTE - THE URGENT MISSION OF BETTY REID SOSKIN
Tuesday, October 27: ATLANTICS
ATLANTICS
Tuesday, October 27
7p, FREE via Zoom; RSVP here
2019; 92m; drama
Second screening added!
1p EDT: screening by the London Labour FilmFest, includes book launch of ‘The Cinema of the Precariat’ with special guest author Tom Zaniello
RSVP here
After a group of unpaid construction workers disappears at sea one night in search of a better life abroad, the women they have left behind in Dakar are overwhelmed with a mysterious fever. Ada, 17, secretly grieves for her love Souleiman, one of the departed workers, but she has been promised to another man. After a fire breaks out on her wedding night, a young policeman is sent to investigate the crime. Little does he know that the aggrieved workers have come back as haunting, possessive spirits. While many of them seek vengeance for their unpaid labor, Souleiman has come back for a different purpose - to be with his Ada one last time.
7p, FREE via Zoom; RSVP here
2019; 92m; drama
Second screening added!
1p EDT: screening by the London Labour FilmFest, includes book launch of ‘The Cinema of the Precariat’ with special guest author Tom Zaniello
RSVP here
After a group of unpaid construction workers disappears at sea one night in search of a better life abroad, the women they have left behind in Dakar are overwhelmed with a mysterious fever. Ada, 17, secretly grieves for her love Souleiman, one of the departed workers, but she has been promised to another man. After a fire breaks out on her wedding night, a young policeman is sent to investigate the crime. Little does he know that the aggrieved workers have come back as haunting, possessive spirits. While many of them seek vengeance for their unpaid labor, Souleiman has come back for a different purpose - to be with his Ada one last time.
NO TIME TO WASTE - THE URGENT MISSION OF BETTY REID SOSKIN
Tuesday, October 20
7p, FREE via Zoom; RSVP here
2020; 50m; documentary
Celebrates legendary national park ranger Betty Reid Soskin who, at age 98, still actively presents her unique perspective on American history to visitors at Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historical Park.
7p, FREE via Zoom; RSVP here
2020; 50m; documentary
Celebrates legendary national park ranger Betty Reid Soskin who, at age 98, still actively presents her unique perspective on American history to visitors at Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historical Park.
IN THE AISLES
Tuesday, October 13
7p, FREE via Zoom; RSVP here
2018; 125m; drama
Introduced by TBD; Sponsored by TBD
Christian begins to work as a shelf stacker at a supermarket and finds himself in a new, unknown world: the long aisles, the bustle at the checkouts, the forklifts.
7p, FREE via Zoom; RSVP here
2018; 125m; drama
Introduced by TBD; Sponsored by TBD
Christian begins to work as a shelf stacker at a supermarket and finds himself in a new, unknown world: the long aisles, the bustle at the checkouts, the forklifts.
CHISHOLM '72: UNBOUGHT AND UNBOSSED
Tuesday, October 6
7p, FREE via Zoom; RSVP here
2004; 77m; documentary
An in-depth look at the 1972 presidential campaign of Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman elected to Congress and the first to seek nomination for the highest office in the land.
Co-sponsored by Suffrage.Race.Power.Black Women Unerased
7p, FREE via Zoom; RSVP here
2004; 77m; documentary
An in-depth look at the 1972 presidential campaign of Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman elected to Congress and the first to seek nomination for the highest office in the land.
Co-sponsored by Suffrage.Race.Power.Black Women Unerased
RESISTERHOOD
Thursday, September 24
7p, FREE via Zoom; RSVP here
2020; 97m; documentary
Introduced by AFL-CIO Secretary Treasurer Liz Shuler (Invited); Q&A with director Cheryl Jacobs Crim; Hosted by Dyana Forester, president of the Metro Washington Council AFL-CIO and Elise Bryant, president of the Coalition of Labor Union Women
Resisterhood is a feature-length documentary about the power of women, hope and resistance in the age of Trump. It follows fledgling and veteran activists as they fight for our rights on the streets and in the halls of power. Produced, directed, filmed and edited by women, Resisterhood is a testament to the strength of ordinary Americans in this extraordinary time.
Co-sponsored by the DC LaborFest, Labor Heritage Foundation, Coalition of Labor Union Women
7p, FREE via Zoom; RSVP here
2020; 97m; documentary
Introduced by AFL-CIO Secretary Treasurer Liz Shuler (Invited); Q&A with director Cheryl Jacobs Crim; Hosted by Dyana Forester, president of the Metro Washington Council AFL-CIO and Elise Bryant, president of the Coalition of Labor Union Women
Resisterhood is a feature-length documentary about the power of women, hope and resistance in the age of Trump. It follows fledgling and veteran activists as they fight for our rights on the streets and in the halls of power. Produced, directed, filmed and edited by women, Resisterhood is a testament to the strength of ordinary Americans in this extraordinary time.
Co-sponsored by the DC LaborFest, Labor Heritage Foundation, Coalition of Labor Union Women
PATSY MINK: AHEAD OF THE MAJORITY
Tuesday, September 22
7p, FREE via Zoom; RSVP here
2008; 56m; documentary; Women Make Movies’ OWOV (One Woman One Vote) Festival
In 1965, Patsy Takemoto Mink became the first woman of color in the United States Congress. Seven years later, she ran for the US presidency and was the driving force behind Title IX, the landmark legislation that transformed women’s opportunities in higher education and athletics.
Co-sponsored by Suffrage.Race.Power.Black Women Unerased
7p, FREE via Zoom; RSVP here
2008; 56m; documentary; Women Make Movies’ OWOV (One Woman One Vote) Festival
In 1965, Patsy Takemoto Mink became the first woman of color in the United States Congress. Seven years later, she ran for the US presidency and was the driving force behind Title IX, the landmark legislation that transformed women’s opportunities in higher education and athletics.
Co-sponsored by Suffrage.Race.Power.Black Women Unerased
NAE PASARAN
Tuesday, September 15
7p, FREE via Zoom; RSVP here
2018; 96m; documentary
40 years after their defiant protest against Pinochet's dictatorship, retired Scottish factory workers discover the incredible consequences of their solidarity.
7p, FREE via Zoom; RSVP here
2018; 96m; documentary
40 years after their defiant protest against Pinochet's dictatorship, retired Scottish factory workers discover the incredible consequences of their solidarity.
WAGING CHANGE
Thursday, September 10 (LABOR WEEK SERIES!)
7p, FREE via Zoom; RSVP here
2019; 65m; documentary
Presented by Women Make Movies, One Fair Wage & Social Action Media
The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with Abby Ginzberg (filmmaker), Saru Jayaraman (president, One Fair Wage), Nikki Cole (National Policy Campaign Director, One Fair Wage), and Cheadza Kundidzora (restaurant worker).
The National Restaurant Association, the “other NRA,” has lobbied the government to keep the federal minimum wage for tipped workers at $2.13 an hour since 1991. Facing off against this powerful lobby is Saru Jayaraman of Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, who mobilizes grassroots support for a national movement to fight for one fair wage. Candid profiles of restaurant workers and their struggles to make ends meet underline the urgency to address this inequality.
Co-sponsored by DC LaborFest and many more.
Trailer
7p, FREE via Zoom; RSVP here
2019; 65m; documentary
Presented by Women Make Movies, One Fair Wage & Social Action Media
The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with Abby Ginzberg (filmmaker), Saru Jayaraman (president, One Fair Wage), Nikki Cole (National Policy Campaign Director, One Fair Wage), and Cheadza Kundidzora (restaurant worker).
The National Restaurant Association, the “other NRA,” has lobbied the government to keep the federal minimum wage for tipped workers at $2.13 an hour since 1991. Facing off against this powerful lobby is Saru Jayaraman of Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, who mobilizes grassroots support for a national movement to fight for one fair wage. Candid profiles of restaurant workers and their struggles to make ends meet underline the urgency to address this inequality.
Co-sponsored by DC LaborFest and many more.
Trailer
REDES LIVES! – The Iconic Film of the Mexican Revolution and What It Says To Us Today
Wednesday, September 9 (LABOR WEEK SERIES!)
7p, FREE via Zoom; RSVP here
2020 105m documentary
Hosted by Tom Zaniello; Introduction/Q&A by Angel Gil-Ordóñez & Joseph Horowitz
Redes (1936) tells the story of burgeoning labor rights amongst poor fishermen in a small village in Mexico, and features a galvanizing score by Silvestre Revueltas and poetic cinematography by Paul Strand. The film features some of the most memorable sequences in the history of cinema of great music wedded to the moving image. It’s also a high exemplar of political art. Why isn’t this film better known? Why isn’t Revueltas as famous as Strand? Why was 20th century Mexico more hospitable to political art than the US? Why did Aaron Copland say he “envied” Mexico’s composers? And why did the Mexican government support a film advocating revolutionary change?
These are some of the questions addressed by “Redes Lives!” a brand-new film featuring excerpts from the acclaimed Naxos DVD featuring the classic Mexican film Redes with Silvestre Revueltas’s galvanizing soundtrack newly recorded by PostClassical Ensemble. The film includes commentary by Mexican composer Ana Lara, Pablo Raphael de la Madrid from the Mexican Ministry of Culture, and historians Lorenzo Candelaria, Roberto Kolb, and John Tutino.
Visual presentation by Peter Bogdanoff; Scripted and edited by Joseph Horowitz; Angel Gil-Ordóñez, PCE's music director.
7p, FREE via Zoom; RSVP here
2020 105m documentary
Hosted by Tom Zaniello; Introduction/Q&A by Angel Gil-Ordóñez & Joseph Horowitz
Redes (1936) tells the story of burgeoning labor rights amongst poor fishermen in a small village in Mexico, and features a galvanizing score by Silvestre Revueltas and poetic cinematography by Paul Strand. The film features some of the most memorable sequences in the history of cinema of great music wedded to the moving image. It’s also a high exemplar of political art. Why isn’t this film better known? Why isn’t Revueltas as famous as Strand? Why was 20th century Mexico more hospitable to political art than the US? Why did Aaron Copland say he “envied” Mexico’s composers? And why did the Mexican government support a film advocating revolutionary change?
These are some of the questions addressed by “Redes Lives!” a brand-new film featuring excerpts from the acclaimed Naxos DVD featuring the classic Mexican film Redes with Silvestre Revueltas’s galvanizing soundtrack newly recorded by PostClassical Ensemble. The film includes commentary by Mexican composer Ana Lara, Pablo Raphael de la Madrid from the Mexican Ministry of Culture, and historians Lorenzo Candelaria, Roberto Kolb, and John Tutino.
Visual presentation by Peter Bogdanoff; Scripted and edited by Joseph Horowitz; Angel Gil-Ordóñez, PCE's music director.
SUFFRAGETTES IN THE SILENT CINEMA
Tuesday, September 8 (LABOR WEEK SERIES!)
7p, FREE via Zoom; RSVP here
2003; 35m; Documentary; Women Make Movies’ OWOV (One Woman One Vote) Festival
Taking advantage of the powerful new medium, early filmmakers on both sides of the contentious issue of suffrage used film to create powerful propaganda and images about women. Suffragettes in the Silent Cinema contains clips from many films from the era, including: A Lively Affair (1912); A Busy Day (1914), which stars a young Charlie Chaplin in drag portraying a suffragist; and the pro-suffragist film, What 80 Million Women Want (1913), which includes an eloquent speech from president of the Women’s Political Union, Harriet Stanton Blatch. Silent films may have passed into history, and their representations of feminists abandoning babies or stealing bicycles to attend suffragette meetings may now seem outrageous, but the struggle for gender equality and the issues surrounding representations of women in the media remain as fascinating, engaging, and relevant as ever.
Co-sponsored by Suffrage.Race.Power.Black Women Unerased
7p, FREE via Zoom; RSVP here
2003; 35m; Documentary; Women Make Movies’ OWOV (One Woman One Vote) Festival
Taking advantage of the powerful new medium, early filmmakers on both sides of the contentious issue of suffrage used film to create powerful propaganda and images about women. Suffragettes in the Silent Cinema contains clips from many films from the era, including: A Lively Affair (1912); A Busy Day (1914), which stars a young Charlie Chaplin in drag portraying a suffragist; and the pro-suffragist film, What 80 Million Women Want (1913), which includes an eloquent speech from president of the Women’s Political Union, Harriet Stanton Blatch. Silent films may have passed into history, and their representations of feminists abandoning babies or stealing bicycles to attend suffragette meetings may now seem outrageous, but the struggle for gender equality and the issues surrounding representations of women in the media remain as fascinating, engaging, and relevant as ever.
Co-sponsored by Suffrage.Race.Power.Black Women Unerased
THE ARTIST AND STATE: Political Art in Mexico and the US
Wednesday September 2
6:30p; FREE via Zoom; RSVP here
Prequel for the Sept. 9 REDES LIVES! screening asks How did the Mexican Revolution galvanize political muralists and composers? Why was Mexico more hospitable to political art than the US? Samples Gregorio Luke’s spectacular presentation on Diego Rivera and the Mexican muralists, plus commentary by composer Ana Lara, historians Roberto Kolb, John Tutino, and Lorenzo Candelaria, and Ix-Nic Iruegas Peon of the Mexican Cultural Institute.
Co-sponsored by the DC LaborFest/DC Labor FilmFest
6:30p; FREE via Zoom; RSVP here
Prequel for the Sept. 9 REDES LIVES! screening asks How did the Mexican Revolution galvanize political muralists and composers? Why was Mexico more hospitable to political art than the US? Samples Gregorio Luke’s spectacular presentation on Diego Rivera and the Mexican muralists, plus commentary by composer Ana Lara, historians Roberto Kolb, John Tutino, and Lorenzo Candelaria, and Ix-Nic Iruegas Peon of the Mexican Cultural Institute.
Co-sponsored by the DC LaborFest/DC Labor FilmFest
Tuesday, August 18: "The Plow that Broke the Plains" and "The River": What can they teach us today?
7p EDT, Free via Zoom; RSVP here
Introduced by Angel Gil-Ordóñez and Joseph Horowitz
Guest host: Tom Zaniello (author “Working Stiffs, Union Maids, Reds and Riffraff”)
This PostClassical Ensemble film, created by Behrouz Jamali, explores two classic American documentary films: The Plow that Broke the Plains (1936) and The River (1938). The musical soundtracks, by Virgil Thomson, are iconic Americana. Our film uses clips from our Naxos DVD, in which the musical scores are newly recorded by PCE conducted by Angel Gil-Ordóñez.
Featuring commentary by Gil-Ordóñez, PCE Executive Producer Joseph Horowitz, historian David Woolner, and film-historians Neil Lerner and George Stoney, we investigate the present-day pertinence of these government-funded documentaries, which employ art to address the crises of the Great Depression.
The topic of “The New Deal and Race,” complicated by a devil’s pact with Jim Crow, is addressed; other topics include the influence of Sergei Eisenstein and montage, contradicting Hollywood practice and the New Deal and the arts.
67 min, 2020, U.S., documentary
7p EDT, Free via Zoom; RSVP here
Introduced by Angel Gil-Ordóñez and Joseph Horowitz
Guest host: Tom Zaniello (author “Working Stiffs, Union Maids, Reds and Riffraff”)
This PostClassical Ensemble film, created by Behrouz Jamali, explores two classic American documentary films: The Plow that Broke the Plains (1936) and The River (1938). The musical soundtracks, by Virgil Thomson, are iconic Americana. Our film uses clips from our Naxos DVD, in which the musical scores are newly recorded by PCE conducted by Angel Gil-Ordóñez.
Featuring commentary by Gil-Ordóñez, PCE Executive Producer Joseph Horowitz, historian David Woolner, and film-historians Neil Lerner and George Stoney, we investigate the present-day pertinence of these government-funded documentaries, which employ art to address the crises of the Great Depression.
The topic of “The New Deal and Race,” complicated by a devil’s pact with Jim Crow, is addressed; other topics include the influence of Sergei Eisenstein and montage, contradicting Hollywood practice and the New Deal and the arts.
67 min, 2020, U.S., documentary
Tues, July 28: Don't Give Up Your Voice & Good Food
7p EDT; Free via Zoom; RSVP here
This week: Resistance to Trump-like politics, and building a more sustainable food system
Don't Give Up Your Voice [2018] – 40 min. This film looks at the widespread and creative resistance to a repressive government in Argentina - in organized labor, at worker coops, street protests, theater and music - and offers timely lessons for us in the North.
GOOD FOOD [2008] – 57 min. Pacific Northwest family farmers, plus the businesses and markets that feature their products, show that it is possible to increase the supply of healthy, local, sustainably grown food. Seattle International Film Festival, broadcast PBS.
7p EDT; Free via Zoom; RSVP here
This week: Resistance to Trump-like politics, and building a more sustainable food system
Don't Give Up Your Voice [2018] – 40 min. This film looks at the widespread and creative resistance to a repressive government in Argentina - in organized labor, at worker coops, street protests, theater and music - and offers timely lessons for us in the North.
GOOD FOOD [2008] – 57 min. Pacific Northwest family farmers, plus the businesses and markets that feature their products, show that it is possible to increase the supply of healthy, local, sustainably grown food. Seattle International Film Festival, broadcast PBS.
Tuesday, July 21: Gone Postal
7p EDT, Free via Zoom; RSVP here
Introduced by director Jay Galione
Jay Galione, son of a postal worker, investigates the dark corners of the U.S. Postal Service. Across the country, brave employees stand up to injustice on the job and fight to Save the People’s Post Office. A moving indictment of the toxic culture and push to downsize, this eye-opening documentary allows viewers to hear from experts and advocates including Ralph Nader and Richard Wolff, and directly from the selfless and courageous people hidden behind the scenes, long suffering and ignored.
91 min; 2019, U.S., documentary
7p EDT, Free via Zoom; RSVP here
Introduced by director Jay Galione
Jay Galione, son of a postal worker, investigates the dark corners of the U.S. Postal Service. Across the country, brave employees stand up to injustice on the job and fight to Save the People’s Post Office. A moving indictment of the toxic culture and push to downsize, this eye-opening documentary allows viewers to hear from experts and advocates including Ralph Nader and Richard Wolff, and directly from the selfless and courageous people hidden behind the scenes, long suffering and ignored.
91 min; 2019, U.S., documentary
Monday, July 20: SHIFT CHANGE & WEconomics: Italy
7p EDT; FREE via Zoom; RSVP here
Great new series of “films that show living examples of people who are building the kind of world we want to see,” from Moving Images, in collaboration with distributor Bullfrog Films!
This week: Democratic workplaces benefit worker owners and local communities
SHIFT CHANGE [2012] – 70 min. Employee ownership offers a real solution for workers and communities to have secure dignified work in democratic workplaces. Shift Change highlights worker-owned enterprises in North America and the remarkable Mondragon cooperatives in the Basque region of northern Spain. PBS, WORLD Channel broadcasts 2014-17.
Preview
WEconomics: Italy [2016] – 19 min. The Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy has one of the highest concentrations of cooperative businesses in the developed world , and this film highlights what a cooperative economy and society have to offer.
7p EDT; FREE via Zoom; RSVP here
Great new series of “films that show living examples of people who are building the kind of world we want to see,” from Moving Images, in collaboration with distributor Bullfrog Films!
This week: Democratic workplaces benefit worker owners and local communities
SHIFT CHANGE [2012] – 70 min. Employee ownership offers a real solution for workers and communities to have secure dignified work in democratic workplaces. Shift Change highlights worker-owned enterprises in North America and the remarkable Mondragon cooperatives in the Basque region of northern Spain. PBS, WORLD Channel broadcasts 2014-17.
Preview
WEconomics: Italy [2016] – 19 min. The Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy has one of the highest concentrations of cooperative businesses in the developed world , and this film highlights what a cooperative economy and society have to offer.
Tuesday, July 14: We Are Not Ghosts & Another World is Possible
7p EDT; Free via Zoom; RSVP here
Great new series of “films that show living examples of people who are building the kind of world we want to see,” from Moving Images, in collaboration with distributor Bullfrog Films!
This week: Neighborhood organizing in Detroit, and World Social Forum for global justice
We Are Not Ghosts [2012] – 52 min. Fifty years ago Detroit was booming, with two million hard working people living the American Dream. Then the auto industry fell on hard times and so did Detroit. Many people moved away. Whole neighborhoods turned into wastelands. But some have a vision for a new Detroit, as a human scaled city in a post industrial world. And with urban farms, peace zones, and spoken word poets, they are starting to make it real. Langston Hughes, Greater Reading, Awaken! Film Festivals. Brussels Academy Amsterdam, Free Speech TV broadcast.
Preview
Another World is Possible [2002] – 24 min. In 2002, 51,000 people from 131 countries gathered for the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Called in response to the elite gathering of the World Economic Forum, this week of workshops, panel discussions, and high-spirited demonstrations was inspirational for those attending. "What we've been doing all week here is telling each other rumors, about creative and brave resistance, telling each other stories, that are true stories...." - Naomi Klein. Hazel Wolf Environmental, Peace & Human Security, Planet in Focus, Vermont International, Columbus bronze, Global Visions, Prix Leonardo gold, Green Reel, Tunisia, US Social Forum festivals. Broadcast WYBE Philadelphia and Telesur.
7p EDT; Free via Zoom; RSVP here
Great new series of “films that show living examples of people who are building the kind of world we want to see,” from Moving Images, in collaboration with distributor Bullfrog Films!
This week: Neighborhood organizing in Detroit, and World Social Forum for global justice
We Are Not Ghosts [2012] – 52 min. Fifty years ago Detroit was booming, with two million hard working people living the American Dream. Then the auto industry fell on hard times and so did Detroit. Many people moved away. Whole neighborhoods turned into wastelands. But some have a vision for a new Detroit, as a human scaled city in a post industrial world. And with urban farms, peace zones, and spoken word poets, they are starting to make it real. Langston Hughes, Greater Reading, Awaken! Film Festivals. Brussels Academy Amsterdam, Free Speech TV broadcast.
Preview
Another World is Possible [2002] – 24 min. In 2002, 51,000 people from 131 countries gathered for the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Called in response to the elite gathering of the World Economic Forum, this week of workshops, panel discussions, and high-spirited demonstrations was inspirational for those attending. "What we've been doing all week here is telling each other rumors, about creative and brave resistance, telling each other stories, that are true stories...." - Naomi Klein. Hazel Wolf Environmental, Peace & Human Security, Planet in Focus, Vermont International, Columbus bronze, Global Visions, Prix Leonardo gold, Green Reel, Tunisia, US Social Forum festivals. Broadcast WYBE Philadelphia and Telesur.
Tuesday, June 23: Cooked: Survival by Zip Code
(replaces The Infiltrators)
Free, online via Zoom; RSVP here
Guest host: Tom Zaniello, author "Working Stiffs: Union Maids, Red and RiffRaff (An Expanded Guide to Films About Labor)"
Judith Helfand's 2019 film -- which suggests there may be no difference between an epidemic and a catastrophe -- now looks eerily prescient. In 1995 Chicago was hit by a record-breaking heat wave, so hot that the lives of 739 residents were lost in a single week; mostly poor, African-American, and elderly residents. This searing, offbeat documentary connects the dots to more recent natural disasters, provocatively exploring the ways in which class, race and zip code predetermine our chances of survival during environmental crises.
Director: Judith Helfand; Starring: Judith Helfand, Eric Klinenberg, Linda Rae Murray
Genres: Documentary; 81 min; 2019
(replaces The Infiltrators)
Free, online via Zoom; RSVP here
Guest host: Tom Zaniello, author "Working Stiffs: Union Maids, Red and RiffRaff (An Expanded Guide to Films About Labor)"
Judith Helfand's 2019 film -- which suggests there may be no difference between an epidemic and a catastrophe -- now looks eerily prescient. In 1995 Chicago was hit by a record-breaking heat wave, so hot that the lives of 739 residents were lost in a single week; mostly poor, African-American, and elderly residents. This searing, offbeat documentary connects the dots to more recent natural disasters, provocatively exploring the ways in which class, race and zip code predetermine our chances of survival during environmental crises.
Director: Judith Helfand; Starring: Judith Helfand, Eric Klinenberg, Linda Rae Murray
Genres: Documentary; 81 min; 2019
2020 Virtual Great Labor Arts Exchange
Friday, June 19 to Saturday, June 20, 2020
FREE; online via Zoom; register here
Start: 1:00 pm EST (Noon CST/10 am PST)
End: 10:00 pm EST (6:00 pm CST/7:00 pm PST)
In the words of Mother Jones, “Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living!” And so we shall ~ with cultural expressions of solidarity to lift spirits and inspire action.
We’re ready to go where no GLAE has gone before! Enjoy 2 days of the Great Labor Arts Exchange, including workshops, and the Annual Song/Poetry/Spoken Word Contest!
This year we’re going digital, using Zoom video conferencing and live streaming. You’ll be able to listen, sing-a-long and most importantly, share the communal joy of being together in these difficult times. Just download the Zoom App, register and pay for the conference, and you’re in.
So, stay safe, stay well and stay tuned!!!
Friday, June 19 to Saturday, June 20, 2020
FREE; online via Zoom; register here
Start: 1:00 pm EST (Noon CST/10 am PST)
End: 10:00 pm EST (6:00 pm CST/7:00 pm PST)
In the words of Mother Jones, “Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living!” And so we shall ~ with cultural expressions of solidarity to lift spirits and inspire action.
We’re ready to go where no GLAE has gone before! Enjoy 2 days of the Great Labor Arts Exchange, including workshops, and the Annual Song/Poetry/Spoken Word Contest!
This year we’re going digital, using Zoom video conferencing and live streaming. You’ll be able to listen, sing-a-long and most importantly, share the communal joy of being together in these difficult times. Just download the Zoom App, register and pay for the conference, and you’re in.
So, stay safe, stay well and stay tuned!!!
13th
Tuesday, June 16, 7p
Free; online via Zoom; RSVP here
Introduced by Elise Bryant, Executive Director of the Labor Heritage Foundation, president of the Coalition of Labor Union Women and Director of the DC Labor Chorus
Combining archival footage with testimony from activists and scholars, director Ava DuVernay's examination of the U.S. prison system looks at how the country's history of racial inequality drives the high rate of incarceration in America.
This piercing, Oscar-nominated film won Best Documentary at the Emmys, the BAFTAs and the NAACP Image Awards.
The title of Ava DuVernay’s extraordinary and galvanizing documentary 13TH refers to the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which reads “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States.” The progression from that second qualifying clause to the horrors of mass criminalization and the sprawling American prison industry is laid out by DuVernay with bracing lucidity. With a potent mixture of archival footage and testimony from a dazzling array of activists, politicians, historians, and formerly incarcerated women and men, DuVernay creates a work of grand historical synthesis.
Tuesday, June 16, 7p
Free; online via Zoom; RSVP here
Introduced by Elise Bryant, Executive Director of the Labor Heritage Foundation, president of the Coalition of Labor Union Women and Director of the DC Labor Chorus
Combining archival footage with testimony from activists and scholars, director Ava DuVernay's examination of the U.S. prison system looks at how the country's history of racial inequality drives the high rate of incarceration in America.
This piercing, Oscar-nominated film won Best Documentary at the Emmys, the BAFTAs and the NAACP Image Awards.
The title of Ava DuVernay’s extraordinary and galvanizing documentary 13TH refers to the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, which reads “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States.” The progression from that second qualifying clause to the horrors of mass criminalization and the sprawling American prison industry is laid out by DuVernay with bracing lucidity. With a potent mixture of archival footage and testimony from a dazzling array of activists, politicians, historians, and formerly incarcerated women and men, DuVernay creates a work of grand historical synthesis.
Tuesday, June 9: 7P: Brassed Off
FREE; register here
Introduced by Seth Cook, Principal tubist for the Washington National Opera and Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, member of the DC Musicians Union and a co-owner of the Takoma Beverage Company. Click here to order dinner from TBC to enjoy during the screening!
“A traditional feel-good motion picture with an element of social commentary thrown in for good measure. “
Unemployment is a bane almost everyone can appreciate -- especially today -- a universal affliction that becomes a sobering reality for many people during even the best of economic times. And, while the loss of each individual job is traumatic, that's nothing compared to what happens when the livelihood and identity of an entire community are jeopardized by a round of mass layoffs. Brassed Off! takes a look at laid-off miners in 90’s England. A small Yorkshire mining town is threatened with being shut down and the only hope for the town’s men is to enter their Grimley Colliery Brass Band into a national competition. They believe they have no hope until Gloria (Tara Fitzgerald) appears carrying her Flugelhorn. At first mocked for being a woman, she soon becomes the only chance for the band to win. In joining the band she puts her relationship with her childhood sweetheart Andy (Ewan McGregor) on the line.
1996; 101m; U.K.; Director: Mark Herman; cast: Pete Postlethwaite, Tara Fitzgerald, Ewan McGregor, Jim Carter, Sue Johnston, Stephen Moore, Ken Colley, Grimethorpe Colliery Band
FREE; register here
Introduced by Seth Cook, Principal tubist for the Washington National Opera and Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, member of the DC Musicians Union and a co-owner of the Takoma Beverage Company. Click here to order dinner from TBC to enjoy during the screening!
“A traditional feel-good motion picture with an element of social commentary thrown in for good measure. “
Unemployment is a bane almost everyone can appreciate -- especially today -- a universal affliction that becomes a sobering reality for many people during even the best of economic times. And, while the loss of each individual job is traumatic, that's nothing compared to what happens when the livelihood and identity of an entire community are jeopardized by a round of mass layoffs. Brassed Off! takes a look at laid-off miners in 90’s England. A small Yorkshire mining town is threatened with being shut down and the only hope for the town’s men is to enter their Grimley Colliery Brass Band into a national competition. They believe they have no hope until Gloria (Tara Fitzgerald) appears carrying her Flugelhorn. At first mocked for being a woman, she soon becomes the only chance for the band to win. In joining the band she puts her relationship with her childhood sweetheart Andy (Ewan McGregor) on the line.
1996; 101m; U.K.; Director: Mark Herman; cast: Pete Postlethwaite, Tara Fitzgerald, Ewan McGregor, Jim Carter, Sue Johnston, Stephen Moore, Ken Colley, Grimethorpe Colliery Band
Tuesday, June 2: 7P: Pride
(Special LGBTQ Pride Month screening!
FREE; register here
7P via Zoom
Back by popular demand (and with the tech issues solved)!
Inspired by an extraordinary true story. It's the summer of 1984, Margaret Thatcher is in power and the National Union of Mineworkers is on strike, prompting a London-based group of gay and lesbian activists to raise money to support the strikers' families.
"The film's high spirits are genuinely infectious. And it says something that 30 years after the events it depicts, Pride should feel so unexpectedly rousing. People cooperating across ideological lines? Finding common cause with folks they don't 100 percent agree with? What a concept." - Bob Mondello, NPR
(Special LGBTQ Pride Month screening!
FREE; register here
7P via Zoom
Back by popular demand (and with the tech issues solved)!
Inspired by an extraordinary true story. It's the summer of 1984, Margaret Thatcher is in power and the National Union of Mineworkers is on strike, prompting a London-based group of gay and lesbian activists to raise money to support the strikers' families.
"The film's high spirits are genuinely infectious. And it says something that 30 years after the events it depicts, Pride should feel so unexpectedly rousing. People cooperating across ideological lines? Finding common cause with folks they don't 100 percent agree with? What a concept." - Bob Mondello, NPR
DC Labor FilmFest SCREENINGS
Tuesday, May 26: 7p: Eight Men Out (1988)
Introduced by director John Sayles!
FREE; register here
7pm, via Zoom
A dramatization of the Black Sox scandal when the underpaid Chicago White Sox accepted bribes to deliberately lose the 1919 World Series.
Director: John Sayles; Stars: John Cusack, Charlie Sheen, David Strathairn, and John Sayles (as Ring Lardner) and Studs Terkel.
"Much more than a film about baseball. It's an amazingly full and heartbreaking vision of the dreams, aspirations and disillusionments of a nation, as filtered through its national pastime. ..resembles the film maker's earlier and more mournfully beautiful ''Matewan,'' not only in using many of the same actors, but also in bringing such far-reaching sympathy to its story."
Janet Maslin, The New York Times
Introduced by director John Sayles!
FREE; register here
7pm, via Zoom
A dramatization of the Black Sox scandal when the underpaid Chicago White Sox accepted bribes to deliberately lose the 1919 World Series.
Director: John Sayles; Stars: John Cusack, Charlie Sheen, David Strathairn, and John Sayles (as Ring Lardner) and Studs Terkel.
"Much more than a film about baseball. It's an amazingly full and heartbreaking vision of the dreams, aspirations and disillusionments of a nation, as filtered through its national pastime. ..resembles the film maker's earlier and more mournfully beautiful ''Matewan,'' not only in using many of the same actors, but also in bringing such far-reaching sympathy to its story."
Janet Maslin, The New York Times
Click below for the DC LaborFest YouTube channel, Twitter Feed and Facebook page
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