A joint effort between the Dryden Theatre and the Rochester Labor Council, the Labor Film Series presents motion pictures celebrating workers of the world. The first film program of its kind in the United States, the series includes dramas, comedies, and current documentaries on important issues relating to work and workers, especially aspects of work often marginalized or absent in dominant commercial media. Our films from around the globe are selected to inform, provoke, and inspire. This year’s selection features five Rochester Premieres, as well as films from Hollywood’s past.
What is a labor film? One quality of a labor film is that it presents the workplace as contested terrain: a dynamic social setting ever shaped and reshaped by opposing interests and practices between workers and employers. We take the results for granted (e.g., the right to unionize, the eight-hour day…), but a labor film foregrounds the confrontations from which they arise. Lilly and Sorry to Bother You are recent and historical examples of the contested terrain. A labor film also depicts wider forces shaping the workplace such as the everchanging national policy on immigration and immigrant labor, as seen in Souleymane’s Story, A Thousand Pines and Anywhere Anytime, and gender, as seen in East of Wall as well as in Lilly. And, as depicted in Goodnight and Good Luck, a labor film includes the work of professionals who uphold the integrity and the hope that their occupation offers for a just society.
Dates and Titles:
September 5: Lilly (Rachel Feldman, US 2024, 93 min., DCP)
September 12: Souleymane’s Story (L’histoire de Souleymane, Boris Lojkine, France 2024, 93 min., DCP, French, Fulah, and Malinka with English subtitles)
September 19: Good Night, and Good Luck (George Clooney, US 2005, 93 min., 35mm)
September 26: A Thousand Pines (Sebastian Diaz Aguirre, Noam Osband, US 2023, 77 min., DCP, Spanish and English with English subtitles)
October 3: The Librarians (Kim A. Snyder, US 2025, 88 min., DCP)
October 10: East of Wall (Kate Beecroft, US 2025, 97 min., DCP)
October 17: La Cocina (Alonso Ruizpalacios, Mexico/US 2024, 139 min., DCP, Spanish and English with English subtitles)
October 24: Anywhere Anytime (Milad Tangshir, Italy 2024, 82 min., DCP, Italian and Wolof with English subtitles)
October 31: Sorry to Bother You (Boots Riley, US 2018, 112 min., DCP)
Events in this Series
Sorry to Bother You
Labor Film Series 2025 | Halloween This satire on phone-sales work, race, corporate greed, and the follies of capitalist culture begins with a struggling young Black man, Cassius Green (Lakeith Stanfield) who takes work as a telemarketer.
Anywhere Anytime
Labor Film Series 2025 Contemporary experiences of undocumented immigrants in Italy are poignantly portrayed in this story of a young Senegalese immigrant, Issa (Ibrahima Sambou).
East of Wall
Labor Film Series 2025 Beautifully shot in the Badlands of South Dakota, this docu-fiction is based on the true story of a tough, recently-widowed rancher Tabatha Zimiga, who rescues and resells horses via TikTok while simultaneously providing refuge for local wayward teens.
The Librarians
Labor Film Series 2025 A timely documentary about a profession and freedom of thought under siege, The Librarians takes a hard look at the growing movement to ban books in public institutions.