Laborfest: Opening Day Movies - Sacco Vanzetti & Eugene Debs

LaborFest's 14th Annual Opening Day and Night is better than ever.

LaborFest was established in 1994 to institutionalize the history and culture of working people in an annual labor cultural, film and arts festival. It begins every July 5th, which is the anniversary of the 1934 “Bloody Thursday” event. On that day, two workers Howard Sperry and Nick Bordoise were shot and killed in San Francisco. They were supporting the longshoremen and maritime workers strike. This incident brought about the San Francisco General Strike which shut down the entire city and led to hundreds of thousands of workers joining the trade union movement.

The films for the afternoon of July 5, starting at 2 p.m., are:
1. Sacco and Vanzetti (82 min) 2006
By Peter Miller
Sacco and Vanzetti brings to life the story of Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, two Italian immigrant anarchists who were accused of a murder in 1920, and executed in Boston in 1927 after a notoriously prejudiced trial. Millions of people around the world protested on their behalf, and now, 80 years later, their story continues to have great resonance, as civil liberties and the rights of immigrants are again under attack.Powerful prison writings (given voice by John Turturro and Tony Shalhoub) and passionate interviews with Howard Zinn, Arlo Guthrie and Studs Terkel are interwoven with artwork, music, and film clips. Through the story of Sacco and Vanzetti, audiences will experience a universal - and very timely - tale of official injustice and human resilience. For more, see http://www.willowpondfilms.com/sacco_and_vanzetti.html

2. Eugene Debs & The American Movement
(43 min) 1977
By Cambridge Documentary Films
This film tells the story of railroad worker Eugene Debs’ life through his speeches and photographs. He is one of the most important labor leaders in the history of the United States. Jailed for opposing the 1st world war, he fought for workers rights and received over one million votes while running for president from jail. He founded the American Railway union and led the Pullman strike in 1894. He founded the Socialist Party in 1901 and ran four times as its presidential candidate. He won 900,369 votes in 1912, about 6% of the vote. He also organized the Industrial Workers of the World with Mother Jones, Big Bill Haywood and others.
http://www.cambridgedocumentaryfilms.org/debs.html#

See also
http://www.laborfest.net/2008schedule.htm