Workers of the World: Immigrant Labor on Screen

Series Site

Co-presented with the Jonathan B. Murray Center for Documentary Journalism at the Missouri School of Journalism in association with Rooftop Films

There has never been a moment when the issues, challenges, and conditions of labor are not urgent or of paramount importance. But it is impossible to ignore the current crises facing immigrant workers in particular. And these crises cannot help but recall a history of conflict and collectivization, as well as a lineage of films that have sought to represent and effectively participate in this discourse. Bisbee ‘17, the new film by Robert Greene (Kate Plays Christine, Actress), engages full-on with these issues through a captivating and complex blend of fiction and nonfiction techniques. “Among other things, Bisbee ’17 is a film about representation, how images define our conceptions of labor and immigration, and how these images can be used to unite or divide us,” says Greene. “So it is fitting for us to be a part of this screening series, which showcases some of the greatest and most cinematically adventurous films about labor ever made. The movies we’ve selected approach issues of labor and immigration through various lenses, and were made from many different points of view, but they are all vital depictions of workers and political struggles for equality and power. These movies matter because seeing human bodies in conflict with the dehumanizing machinery of capitalism matters. They may infuriate or haunt or offer catharsis or transformation—but these films must be seen because workers and immigrants must be seen.” Bisbee ‘17 opens on Wednesday, September 5 at Film Forum.

Organized by Robert Greene and Eric Hynes, Curator of Film.