Opening Night of the 2022 DC Labor FilmFest: Screening of THE WOBBLIES followed by Q&A with filmmaker Deborah Shaffer
"Solidarity! All for one and one for all!" Founded in Chicago in 1905, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) took to organizing unskilled workers into "one big union" and changed the course of American history. This compelling documentary of the IWW (or "The Wobblies," as they were known) tells the story of workers in factories, sawmills, wheat fields, forests, mines and on the docks as they organize and demand better wages, healthcare, overtime pay and safer working conditions. In some respects, men and women, Black and white, skilled and unskilled workers joining a union and speaking their minds seems so long ago, but in other ways, the film mirrors today's headlines, depicting a nation torn apart by corporate greed. Filmmakers Deborah Shaffer and Stewart Bird weave history, archival film footage, interviews with early IWW members (by then in their 80s and 90s), cartoons, original art and classic Wobbly songs (many written by Joe Hill) to pay tribute to the legacy of these rebels who paved the way and risked their lives for the many of the rights that we still enjoy today. Restored by the Museum of Modern Art and recently inducted into the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress. (Note courtesy of Kino Lorber.)
- 2022_MD_Wobblies_220501: AFI -- DC Labor FilmFest -- "Wobblies" (w/Deborah Shaffer) (140 photos from 2022)
- 2022_ZZ_Standing_Up_220511: Busboys 14&V and DC LaborFest -- Ellen Bravo and Larry Miller ("Standing Up: Tales Of Struggle") (138 photos from 2022)
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