Oscar-Winning ‘Harlan County’ and ‘American Dream’ Screen Virtually In Honor of May Day
Free and On-Demand May 16-20th
A Barbara Kopple double feature documenting two memorable and heartbreaking strikes - one between coal miners in the 1970's and the Duke Power company, who refused to recognize their union, and the other among workers at Hormel Foods in the 1980s after their wages and benefits were cut. Watch on-demand: https://watch.eventive.org/workersunitefilmfest2025
Harlan County USA - Barbara Kopple’s Academy Award–winning Harlan County USA unflinchingly documents a grueling coal miners’ strike in a small Kentucky town. With unprecedented access, Kopple and her crew captured the miners’ sometimes violent struggles with strikebreakers, local police, and company thugs. Featuring a haunting soundtrack - with legendary country and bluegrass artists Hazel Dickens, Merle Travis, Sarah Gunning, and Florence Reece - the film is a heartbreaking record of the thirteen-month struggle between a community fighting to survive and a corporation dedicated to the bottom line. (103 min, 1976, Director: Barbara Kopple) (Trailer)
American Dream - “The people in this film are so real they make most movie characters look like inhabitants of the funny page. Families are torn apart. One brother goes back to work, another stays on the picket lines. Workers have tears in their eyes as they describe not being able to support their families. It becomes clear that no possible win by the members of P-9 could compensate them for the wages they have already lost - especially as they are striking, not for a raise, but against a pay cut. A nobility creeps onto the scene, as people make enormous financial and personal sacrifices simply for what they believe is morally right. Our hearts are torn, because on the basis of this film we are not sure they have chosen the wisest path.
[…] Is there a lesson at the end of "American Dream"? I think there is. I think the lesson is that the American tradition of collective bargaining will break down if companies can simply ignore a legal strike, hire replacements, and continue as before. There was a time in American history when such behavior by management would have been seen as not only illegal but immoral. The new management philosophers who won ascendency in the 1980s dismiss such views as sentimentalism. They are concerned only with the bottom line, where they see profits, not people.” - Roger Ebert (98 min, 1990, Directors: Barbara Kopple, Cathy Caplan, and Thomas Haneke) (Trailer)
You only need to create a free login on Eventive to watch. You can also download the Eventive app to your TV and login there after adding the film screening to your account.
This virtual screening is sponsored in part by the DC Labor Film Fest and the Global Film Festival Network.
Submissions for Season 14 (Oct 17-30, 2025) Are Open
Next Deadline: June 16th
Congratulations to Our Season 13 Winners!
Missed the Season 13 Festival? You can watch all trailers below:
Season 13 Designs Are Up On Worx!
New Union Cooperative Print Shop
Click on the images or go to shop.worxprinting.coop/collections/wuff
Thank You to Our Season 13 Sponsors!
Interested in sponsoring the main festival this October? Email andrew@workersuniteff.org or message us here.
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About the Festival
The Workers Unite Film Festival, now in its 14th season, is a celebration of Global Labor Solidarity. The Festival aims to showcase student and professional films from the United States and around the world which publicize and highlight the struggles, successes and daily lives of all workers in their efforts to unite and organize for better living conditions and social justice.
WUFF brings together activists, academics, and filmmakers of all ages and backgrounds for a celebration of social justice and the arts. Through dozens of documentary screenings, community forums, and interactive events across New York City, the festival provides working people with a platform to tell their stories while leading a movement for meaningful change. In recent years, we've incorporated theater production, live music, and poetry/spoken word nights. We are the largest worker solidarity themed film festival in the nation and the only one in NYC, with the full support of NYC Council Speaker Adrienne E. Adams, Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, NYC Central Labor Council, National & New York State AFL-CIO, IBEW Local 3, PEF, 1199SEIU, The Puffin Foundation, The NY Labor History Association, UA Local 1 Plumbers, UFT, NYSNA, NY District Council of Carpenters, RWDSU, Workers United NY & NJ, and many more.
We are a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization.
WUFF14 Submissions for 2025 Are Now Open!
The festival screens documentaries, narratives, features, and shorts from all over the world (English language or subtitles), as well as screenplays. You must have an account with Film Freeway to submit your work through their website. The Next Deadline is June 16th, 2025.
Promotional Videos:
2019 promo trailer documenting the variety of events during the most recent film festival.
The Workers Unite Film Festival is proud to be a part of the Global Labor Film Festival, recognized by the afl-cio. See the complete list here.
The 14th Workers Unite Film Festival is made possible in part with public funds from Creative Engagement, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and administered by LMCC.
wuff is Honored to have received a 2019 Manhattan Community Award Program (MCAP) Grant from the Manhattan Borough President’s Office.
honored to have received the 2019 Harry Kelber Fellowship Award from the Harry Van Arsdale Jr. School of Labor Studies, SUNY Empire State University.