DC LABORFEST
Celebrating Labor Arts
All screenings at the American Film Institute, 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring, MD
Click here for tickets on the DC Labor FilmFest AFI page. Organized and presented by the Metropolitan Washington Council of the AFL-CIO, the Debs-Jones-Douglass Institute and the AFI Silver, the 18th annual DC Labor FilmFest features a wide-ranging selection of films about work, workers and workers’ issues. Wed, May 1, 7:15p: SUPPORT THE GIRLS Mon, May 6, 7:00p: ON THE BASIS OF SEX Thu, May 9, 7:15 p: IDIOCRACY Fri, May 10, 7:15p: OFFICE SPACE Fri, May 10, 9:30p: EXTRACT Sat, May 11, 10:45p: IDIOCRACY Wed, May 15, 7:15p: COUNCILWOMAN Fri, May 17, 7:15p: SORRY TO BOTHER YOU Tue, May 28, 7:15p: HIGH FLYING BIRD Thu, May 30, 7:15p: NORMA RAE Click above and/or see below for detailed film write-ups and trailers, dates, times and links to purchase tickets. |
Wed, May 15, 7:15pm; AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center, 8633 Colesville Rd, Silver Spring, MD 20910
Click here for tickets: bit.ly/dclf-afi2019 Co-sponsored by WILL Empower (Women Innovating Labor Leadership); CLUW, DC CLUW, CHESAPEAKE CLUW, CSA's Building Futures/Women in the Trades and UNITE HERE Local 25 A first-term city councilwoman juggles a hotly contested reelection campaign and a full-time job as a hotel housekeeper. Carmen Castillo won a seat on the city council between shifts as a hotel housekeeper. Building a name for herself in local politics as she fought to unionize and, unsuccessfully, to raise the minimum hourly wage to $15 for all Providence, Rhode Island, hotel workers, Castillo infuriated her more corporate-minded constituents in Ward 9. Councilwoman tracks the story from her arrival in the U.S. from the Dominican Republic in the mid-1990s to her 2014 reelection bid, when she once again espouses a fiery progressive platform. And neither of her opponents proves shy about using her marginalized economic status and lack of formal higher education against her. Castillo battles personal setbacks and legacy notions of who is qualified to run for political office — all the while fiercely defending her vision of a society in which all people earn enough to support themselves and their families. DIR Margo Guernsey; U.S., 2019, color, 1 hr, 11m, 35mm. |
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Fri, May 10, 9:45pm; AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center, 8633 Colesville Rd, Silver Spring, MD 20910
Click here for tickets Extract parodies the same kind of workaday ennui that made Mike Judge's 1999 film Office Space a sleeper hit. This time, however, the setting shifts from the white collar world of cubicle-land to the blue collar factory floor of Reynold's Extract. Jason Bateman, Mila Kunis, Ben Affleck, Kristen Wiig, Clifton Collins, and J.K. Simmons star in writer/director Mike Judge's comedy about a flower-extract plant owner contending with an ever-growing avalanche of personal and professional disasters. An employee at the factory has just suffered an unfortunate accident on the assembly line, but little does the put-upon owner realize that things are about to get much worse. As the injured employee threatens to sue and it begins to look like his company will be bought out, the frazzled owner attempts to catch the culprit responsible for stealing wallets from the coat room and begins to suspect that his wife is sleeping with the gigolo he hired to seduce her. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi DIR/SCR Mike Judge; U.S., 2009, color, 93 min, 35mm. RATED R |
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Tue, May 28, 7:15pm; AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center, 8633 Colesville Rd, Silver Spring, MD 20910
Click here for tickets On a basketball court, “give me the rock” means “pass the ball.” In “High Flying Bird,” an exhilarating and argumentative caper concerning a sports agent, his N.B.A.-rookie client and other interested parties, the phrase takes on a slightly different connotation — something akin to “the workers should seize control of the means of production.” This isn’t a sports movie in any conventional sense. Directed by Steven Soderbergh from a screenplay by Tarell Alvin McCraney, it uses the charisma of athletes and the competitive energy of the game they play to catalyze a feisty, twisty fable of labor and capital in the 21st century… it leaves you with a lot to think about, in addition to race, class and basketball: what it means to love your work, and why it matters to be paid for it.” - A.O. Scott, The New York Times DIR Steven Soderbergh; SCR Tarell Alvin McCraney. U.S., 2019, color, 90 min, 35mm. |
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Sat, May 11, 10:45pm; AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center, 8633 Colesville Rd, Silver Spring, MD 20910
Click here for tickets Like his 1999 film OFFICE SPACE, Mike Judge's satirical comedy IDIOCRACY has become a bona fide cult classic since its original theatrical release. An army experiment places two exceedingly average test subjects — Army Corporal Luke Wilson and prostitute Maya Rudolph — in suspended animation. They awake 500 years in the future to discover that America has become exponentially dumber, a dystopian world of commercial oppression, junk food diets, overflowing garbage and crass anti-intellectualism. They are now the two smartest people alive. Recently, journalists have cited IDIOCRACY in light of certain mind-boggling statements made during the 2016 presidential campaign. Screenwriter Etan Cohen tweeted, "I never expected #idiocracy to become a documentary," and, "I thought the worst thing that would come true was everyone wearing Crocs.” DIR /SCR/PROD Mike Judge; SCR Etan Cohen; PROD Elysa Koplovitz Dutton. U.S., 2006, color, 84 min, 35mm. RATED R |
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Thu, May 30, 7:00pm; AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center, 8633 Colesville Rd, Silver Spring, MD 20910
Click here for tickets Co-sponsored by WILL Empower (Women Innovating Labor Leadership); CLUW, DC CLUW, CHESAPEAKE CLUW, CSA's Building Futures/Women in the Trades and UNITE HERE Local 25 Sally Fields won an Oscar for Best Actress for her portrayal of a Southern textile worker in the 1970s. Faced with problems and challenges both personal and at work, Norma Rae proves receptive to the message of a union organizer seeking to start a drive at her plant. The film is based on the real story of Crystal Lee Sutton and the ACTWU’s drive to organize JP Stevens’ plants in the South in the 1970s. Norma Rae was selected for preservation at the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress in 2011, deemed as being "culturally, aesthetically or historically significant". DIR Martin Ritt; SCR Irving Ravetch & Harriet Frank Jr. U.S., 1979, color, 1 hr, 54 min, 35mm. RATED PG PLUS: 5/40: 2019 Labor 411 DC release party/Norma Rae Reception 5:30p at McGinty's Celebrate the 5th Labor 411 Guide to Washington D.C. and the 40th anniversary of the release of “Norma Rae”! Join us for a 2019 Labor 411 DC publish party featuring union-made brews and bites at McGinty's Tavern and then head next door to AFI for the DC LaborFest 40th Anniversary screening of "Norma Rae." FREE but space is limited and you must RSVP here |
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With Red Swingline Stapler raffle!
Fri, May 10, 7:15pm; AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center, 8633 Colesville Rd, Silver Spring, MD 20910 Click here for tickets “I could burn this place down.” The perennial DC Labor FilmFest favorite returns! The outrageously funny OFFICE SPACE will once again feature a raffle of OFFICE SPACE paraphernalia, including Milton’s precious red Swingline stapler. Director Mike Judge’s theatrical debut was largely ignored upon release, but has become a veritable ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW for cube-farmers everywhere; starring Ron Livingston, Jennifer Aniston, John C. McGinley, Stephen Root and Gary Cole. DIR/SCR/PROD Mike Judge; PROD Daniel Rappaport, Guy Riedel. U.S., 1999, color, 89 min, 35mm. RATED R |
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Mon, May 6, 7:00pm; AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center, 8633 Colesville Rd, Silver Spring, MD 20910
Click here for tickets Co-sponsored by WILL Empower (Women Innovating Labor Leadership); CLUW, DC CLUW, CHESAPEAKE CLUW, CSA's Building Futures/Women in the Trades and UNITE HERE Local 25 The compelling story of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s early years, as she crafts a national legal strategy to win equal rights for women and fights to succeed in a profession notably hostile to women. This is an inspiring story about Ginsburg’s rise through male dominated law schools, her struggles for equal rights, and how she overcame institutionalised sexism to become a US Supreme Court Justice. Working with the ACLU and her husband, she made the case for gender equality as a fundamental human right, and the film culminates in a famous courtroom scene, the first time Ginsburg had ever argued in public - before three male judges. Starring Academy Award nominee Felicity Jones, Armie Hammer, Justin Theroux, and Kathy Bates. DIR Mimi Leder; SCR Daniel Stiepleman. U.S., 2019, color, 2h, 35mm. RATED R |
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Fri, May 17, 7:15p; AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center, 8633 Colesville Rd, Silver Spring, MD 20910
Click here for tickets SORRY TO BOTHER YOU tells the story of Cassius Green (Lakeith Stanfield, ATLANTA, GET OUT), a 30-something telemarketer with self-esteem issues who discovers a magical selling power hidden within himself. Suddenly, he's rising up the ranks to the elite team of his company, which sells heinous products and services. The upswing in Cassius' career raises red flags with his brilliant girlfriend, Detroit (Tessa Thompson, CREED, DEAR WHITE PEOPLE), a sign-twirling gallery artist. But the unimaginable hits the fan when Cassius meets the company's cocaine-snorting, orgy-hosting, obnoxious and relentless CEO, Steve Lift (Armie Hammer, CALL ME BY YOUR NAME, THE SOCIAL NETWORK). SORRY TO BOTHER YOU is unlike anything you have ever seen. It is a searing social satire about greed, racial dynamics and capitalism in a universe not unlike our own. Prepare yourself for something outrageous and totally original. With Terry Crews, Forest Whitaker, Omari Hardwick and Danny Glover. DIR/SCR Boots Riley; PROD Nina Yang Bongiovi, Jonathan Duffy, Charles D. King, George Rush, Forest Whitaker, Kelly Williams. U.S., 2018, color, 105 min. RATED R |
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Wed, May 1, 7:15pm; AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center, 8633 Colesville Rd, Silver Spring, MD 20910
Click here for tickets Co-sponsored by WILL Empower (Women Innovating Labor Leadership); CLUW, DC CLUW, CHESAPEAKE CLUW, CSA's Building Futures/Women in the Trades and UNITE HERE Local 25 “A Winning, Rambunctious Comedy About Work in America.”* Lisa (Regina Hall) is the last person you'd expect to find in a highway-side "sports bar with curves,"-- but as general manager at Double Whammies, she's come to love the place, and its customers. An instinctive den mother, she nurtures and protects her ‘girls’ on the staff fiercely -- but over the course of one trying day, her optimism is battered from every direction... Double Whammies sells a big, weird American fantasy, but what happens when reality pokes a bunch of holes in it? "While it is a very specific story in many ways, I hope that anyone who's ever worked for a living will relate," says director Andrew Bujalski. "Most of us have to buy/sell one crazy 'concept' or another to pay our bills, and some days, you're not sure if your humor and dignity will survive to the end of the shift..." *Danny King, The Village Voice DIR/SCR Andrew Bujalski; PROD Houston King, Sam Slater. U.S., 2018, color, 91 min, 35mm. RATED R |
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