From the Open-Publishing Calendar
From the Open-Publishing Newswire
Indybay Feature
The 5th annual Reel Work May Day Labor Film Festival is jam packed this year with sixteen different events starting Thursday April 20, and ending May 1st, International Workers' Day. This year's festival includes the regional premier screening of Sir! No Sir! a film about rank-and-file GI resistance to the Vietnam War as well as Meeting Face to Face, a film partially funded by Reel Work which depicts the historic nationwide visit of Iraqi labor union leaders to the US in 2005. Highlights of this years' Reel Work include an activist documentary film workshop led by noted Chicano filmmaker Paul Espinosa. Espinosa will also screen his highly-acclaimed film on the new face of Los Angeles labor, race and politics. Two female miners and union activists from the Mesabi Iron Range of Minnesota will discuss the Academy-Award nominated film "North Country," which will run at the Nickelodeon Theater in downtown Santa Cruz on Sunday, April 23. North Country tells the story of the first successful class action workplace sexual harassment case in the United States. Reel Work is partnering with the San Jose City College Labor Studies program to bring legendary folk singer Ronnie Gilbert of the Weavers to Santa Cruz to do a portrayal of Mother Jones, the most dangerous woman in America. On the same program, we will be hosting members of the locked-out Boilermakers Local Union 484 from Meredosia, Illinois who will tell their story which has garnered international attention. David Zeiger will introduce his film Sir! No Sir! on Thursday, April 27 at the Del Mar. Following the screening, two military veterans featured in the film will lead a panel discussion on the past, present, and future of anti-war movements and working people. Noted film maker Renee Tajima-Pea will show and discuss her new film Labor Women which depicts the newest generation of union organizers and activists in southern California. Finally, we will feature student-produced films on local labor struggles in Santa Cruz.
From its inception, Reel Work has brought together award-winning documentary film producers/workers/activists/students and the public with the goal of increasing community awareness of the central role of work in our lives, to discuss economic and global justice issues and to bring alive the history and culture of the labor movement in the US and abroad. We aspire to inspire participants to join in the struggle for worker rights locally, nationally and globally and to promote social justice activism and international solidarity.
This year's co-sponsors include the Monterey Bay Labor Council, Community Television of Santa Cruz County, Community Printers, Nickelodeon Theatre, UCSC Community Studies Dept., Film and Digital Media Dept., Feminist Studies Dept., SC County Women's Commission, WILPF, RCNV and many, many local unions. Our venues will be spread throughout the region, from Watsonville to San Jose as well as a month of labor film showings on Santa Cruz Community TV.
Admission to the film showings will continue to be by voluntary donation. Publicity stills, bios and interviews with the principle speakers and film producers are available. For a full schedule, updates, and a partial list of sponsors go to
http://www.reelwork.org As Mother Jones so famously said, "Let's not mourn. Lets organize! And let's have some fun while we're doing it.
May Day Labor Film Festival
• SCHEDULE • 2006 •
Admission to all events is by voluntary donation except where noted
Thursday, April 20, 2006
Community Television Comcast Channel 27 & Charter Channel 73 • 4 pm
Watsonville On Strike
(Director: Jon Silver, 1989, 65 min)
Teamster cannery workers’ 18-month struggle.
Community Television Comcast Channel 27 & Charter Channel 73 • 7:30 pm
VOICES: 20th Anniversary of the Watsonville Strike
Live call-in show featuring a panel of activists involved in the historic struggle.
Speakers: Jon Silver, filmmaker; Oscar Rios, labor organizer; Frank Bardacke, author; Gloria Bettencourt & Maria Lomali, strike veterans
The Attic, Santa Cruz • 7 pm
Weirded Out & Blown Away
(Director: Sharon Greytak, 1986, 43 min)
Insights into the common ground shared by the disabled and non-disabled alike.
Speakers: Panel of local disability activists
Sponsor: Santa Cruz County Disabilities Commission
Friday, April 21, 2006
Watsonville Cabrillo Center, Watsonville • 7 pm
Granito de Arena (Grain of Sand)
(Director: Jill Freidberg, 2005, 61 min)
Mexican schoolteachers’ grassroots resistance in defense of public education.
Redesigning Schools To Raise Achievement: It’s Union Work!
(Producer: UFT NY Teachers Center, 2004, 30 min)
Union and districts work together to increase student achievement.
Speaker: Don Brown, teacher
Sponsor: Pajaro Valley Federation of Teachers
Sunday, April 23, 2006
Nickelodeon Theatre, Santa Cruz • 11 am
North Country
(Director: Niki Caro, 2006, 126 min)
The first major successful workplace sexual harassment case in the US.
Speakers: Cherie Manner and Delores Sabin, members of Steelworkers Union Locals 9115 & 2660, Minnesota
Watsonville Cabrillo Center, Watsonville • 3 pm
Maid In America
(Director: Anayansi Prado, 2004, 58 min)
Housekeeper, nanny, surrogate mother: roles for undocumented workers.
Speaker: Panel including Doug Keegan, Executive Director of the Santa Cruz County Immigration Project
Sponsor: Santa Cruz County Womens Commission
CSUMB Campus Housing, Marina • 5 pm
Wal-Mart: The High Cost Of Low Price
(Director: Robert Greenwald, 2005, 95 min)
The underside of the biggest retailer and biggest employer in the US.
Speaker: Lisa Smithline, Brave New Films Outreach Producer
VFW Post 811, Marina • 7 pm
Wal-Mart: The High Cost Of Low Price
(Director: Robert Greenwald, 2005, 95 min)
The underside of the biggest retailer and biggest employer in the US.
Speaker: Lisa Smithline, Brave New Films Outreach Producer
Sponsor: Citizens Against Wal-Mart in Marina
Monday, April 24, 2006
Community Television Studio, Santa Cruz • 7 pm
Waging A Living
(Producer: Roger Weisberg, 2005, 85 min)
Four low-wage workers struggle to achieve the American dream.
Nine and a Quarter
(Filmmaker: Mathilde Rand, 2006, 15 min)
Raising the minimum wage in Santa Cruz.
Speaker: Nora Hochman, Campaign to Raise the Minimum Wage
Sponsor: Working Alliance for A Just Economy
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Live Oak Grange, Santa Cruz • 7 pm
Face To Face
(Director: Jonathan Levin, 2005, 29 min)
US nationwide tour of Iraqi labor union leaders in June 2005.
Enter The Oil Workers
(Producer: Bolivarian Circle of Global Women’s Strike, 1994, 34 min)
Oil workers saved Venezuela’s oil industry from a CIA lockout .
Speaker:
Sponsor: Santa Cruz Middle East Working Group
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Kresge Town Hall, UCSC • 7 pm
Labor Women
(Director: Renee Tajima-Peña, 2002, 35 min)
Three immigrant daughters transforming the US labor movement.
Estamos Aquí
(Filmmakers: Colectivo Media Insurgente, 2006, 10 min)
Students document the 2005 AFSCME union strike at UCSC.
Capital Flies
(Filmmakers: Emily Encina & Kyle Gleason, 2006, 18 min)
Former field and factory worker, Sara Lopez, copes with increasing layoffs and development in Salinas.
Rainbow Theater Performance
A production designed to increase awareness of the cultural climate.
Speakers: Renee Tajima-Peña, Emily Encina & Kyle Gleason, filmmakers
Thursday, April 27, 2006
Del Mar Theatre, Santa Cruz • 7 pm
Sir! No Sir!
(Producer: David Zeiger, 2005, 85 min)
GIs organizing against the Vietnam War.
Speaker: David Zeiger, filmmaker, Tom Bernard, Keith Mather
Music: David Winters & The Santa Cruz Peace Chorale
Friday, April 28, 2006
Studio C, Communications Bldg., UCSC • 2:30-4:30 pm
Activist Film Workshop
Presenter: Paul Espinosa, filmmaker
Sponsor: UCSC Film and Digital Media Department
Watsonville Cabrillo Center, Watsonville • 7 pm
Segments from Los Mineros
and California and the American Dream
(films by Paul Espinosa)
An old classic and a new film on LA labor, race & politics.
Speaker: Paul Espinosa, filmmaker
Saturday, April 29, 2006
First Congregational Church, Santa Cruz • 7 pm
A Single Woman
A play about Jeannette Rankin, suffragist and peace activist.
Author & Actress: Jeanmarie Simpson of the Nevada Shakespeare Co.
Speaker: Bettina Aptheker, teacher, writer
Sponsor: WILPF Santa Cruz Branch
Tickets: Advance at Bookshop Santa Cruz or at the door, $10-25 suggested donation
Sunday, April 30, 2006
Kuumbwa Jazz Center, Santa Cruz • 7 pm
Lockout 484
(Filmmakers: Laura Vazquez & Rosemary Feurer, 2005, 18 min)
New plant owner locks out workers in Meredosia, IL.
Mother Jones
Dramatic reading of the life and times of “The most dangerous woman in America.”
Performer: Ronnie Gilbert, playwright, activist & singer
Speakers: Fred Hirsch, Vice President of Plumbers Local 393 & Tina Batteneld, locked out member of Boilermakers Local 484
Music: The Raging Grannies
Sponsor: San Jose City College Labor Studies Program
Tickets: Advance at Streetlight Records $15, Door $20
Monday, May 1, 2006
International Workers Day
County Board of Supervisors Chambers, Santa Cruz • Noon - 1 pm
Rebuilding Reality
(Filmmaker: Mathilde Rand, 2006, 20 min)
Tradespeople volunteer in Biloxi after Katrina.
Solidarity Has No Borders: Voyage Of The Neptune Jade
(Producer: Labor Video Project, 2005, 23 min)
Longshoremen in international solidarity against transnational shipper.
Speaker: Mathilde Rand, filmmaker
SEIU Local 415 Union Hall, Santa Cruz • 7 pm
Charlie King & Karen Brandow in Concert
Sweet harmonies and incendiary lyrics—songs, stories and satire on Labor in action.
Performers: Charlie King & Karen Brandow
Suggested donation: $10
San Jose City College Theater Building, San Jose • 7 pm
Lockout 484
(Filmmakers: Laura Vazquez & Rosemary Feurer, 2005, 18 min)
New plant owner locks out workers in Meredosia, IL.
Mother Jones
Dramatic reading of the life and times of “The most dangerous woman in America.”
Performer: Ronnie Gilbert, playwright, activist & singer
Speakers: Fred Hirsch, Vice President of Plumbers Local 393 & Tina Batteneld, locked out member of Boilermakers Local 484
Music: Francisco Herrera & Coro Obrero
Sponsor: San Jose City College Labor Studies Program
Tickets: Advance at Streetlight Records $15, Door $20