Now Playing in NYC: 13th Workers Unite! Film Festival
The 13th Season of the Workers Unite! Film Festival is here!
By Joe Maniscalco
The annual Workers Unite! Film Festival is back in New York City for its 13th season this week, presenting another rare opportunity to shift the focus away from the corporate bosses—and place it squarely on the real world struggles and triumphs of working people everywhere.
“Obviously, working people have to organize into unions and make sure those unions stay active and progressive,” Andrew Tilson, executive director for the Workers Unite Film Festival told Work-Bites ahead of this year’s October 18, kickoff. “At the same time, they have to talk to other people because most of the county is not organized. We have to use the full power of media to tell stories about working people.”
The Workers Unite! Film Fest is telling those working class stories with a series of in-person and virtual events showcasing some 40 new theatrical releases happening now through November. Screenings at Cinema Village begin Friday, October 18, with “Gumbo Coalition”—the latest from two-time Oscar winner Barbara Kopple, who’ll also take part in a live Q&A. The opening reception is tonight, October 16, at Café Flor in Manhattan from 5:30-7:30 p.m.
“I think it's a really interesting time because we're coming off a time period where labor was in the news a lot,” “Fire Department, Inc.” director Colin Hughes told Work-Bites. “It seemed like every week I was hearing something about Amazon, or something at Kelloggs, or something at General Mills. It was the red hot labor summer last summer—and now, it's sort of quieting back down again. So, I think it's really important to make sure that these stories of labor struggle are portrayed in all types of media—and I think the Workers Unite! Film Festival is a really important place for that because you're getting more in depth with all of these stories.”
Live screenings continue at Cinema Village, located at 22 E 12th Street in Manhattan, through Thursday, October 24. Select films will also be screened virtually starting October 25, and continuing through October 30. Other special events, including a sneak preview and live Q&A with “The Edge of Nature” filmmaker Josh Fox, as well as a poetry and jazz night at The Lost and Found Lounge, continue through November 12.
Click here for tickets and more information about all of WUFF’s in-person and special events.
Hughes’ film about a North River, Illionis mayor bent on privatizing the local Fire Department and busting the union should have special resonance for tens of thousands of New York City municipals retirees who are watching their own mayor try to drive them into a profit-driven health insurance plan that delays and denies the care they need.
“The best possible way you can look at it from a politician’s point of view is that they're looking to save money for residents,” Hughes told Work-Bites. “But the minute you start thinking about it—that logic goes away really fast for the exact reason of what happens late in our film. This private company came back mid-contract and said, we know we have a contract with the Village of North Riverside but we don't care—we’re raising your rates. Basically because we can. All of a sudden, it was a lot cheaper to have a union Fire Department.”
Whether it’s the relentless drive to privatize every aspect of all our lives, the increasing threat of climate catastrophe, or the country’s continuing lurch to outright fascism—breaking through the 24-hour corporate noise machine and amplifying the struggles of working families everywhere has never been more imperative, or challenging than it is now.
“You never know what the rallying cry for somebody else might be,” Hughes said. “If it happens to be a “Fire Department Inc, or a ‘Gumbo Coalition,’ or any of the other movies that are playing at the Workers Unite Film Festival this year—seeing how that movie could bring someone in and get them excited about unionizing their workplace—that would be awesome for me.”