LAST CALL: THE SHUTDOWN OF NYC BARS - The hospitality industry is the artistic heartbeat of New York. Nowhere is that more prevalent than in Queens. Thousands of artists, musicians and actors flock to the city’s most diverse borough to work in the service industry to supplement their dreams. In March of 2020, these dreamers put their lives on hold, self-isolating and sacrificing their income as Queens became the global epicenter of COVID-19.
As the weeks go by, we follow two local bars fighting off the virus, financial ruin, and the deaths of loved ones, while the frontline workers battle to slow down the death toll engulfing the borough. Under strict and safe filming guidelines, we witnessed how both industries needed each other in order to bend the curve. It’s a tale of two sacrifices that saved not only the lives of thousands but the future of New York. (59 min, 2020, Director: Johnny Sweet) + Director Q&A
Shorts to precede:
FOR ARMETTA - To commemorate the one-year COVID-19 lockdown anniversary, we look at the profound sacrifices that essential workers have made since March 2020. For Armetta is a story of loss and reflection that acknowledges we all have an essential story to tell. (5 min, 2021, Director: Kevin Wilson, Jr., Executive Producer: Angela Bassett)
The Essential Campaign is a national storytelling-in-action effort that spotlights the essential workers who keep our communities and families running. Share your essential story to help inspire a future short film: theessentialcampaign.org
SACRIFICIAL LAMBS tells the story of the pandemic on Rikers Island through recorded phone interviews with two Rikers correctional officers and a former Rikers inmate. In this hybrid animated film we hear their fears, sorrows, and frustrations. (4 min, 2021, Director: Stephanie Tangkilisan)
HEALTHCARE WORKER DAY OF ACTION - A nurses day of action at Kingsbrook Hospital in Brooklyn, where they lost five co-workers to COVID-19. (3 min, 2020, Directors: Eloise Sherrid, Yoni Golijov)
#TIMETOCARE - The pandemic heightened awareness that we all need time to care — and that most of us can’t afford it. Ky Dickens, the award-winning director of Zero Weeks, discovered an interest in an unexpected place: TikTok. The more she looked, the more she found people with zero tolerance for zero weeks of paid leave and an appetite for activism. (20 min, 2021, Director: Ky Dickens)
https://familyvaluesatwork.org/timetocarefilm/