THANKS NYC AND ALL OUR LABOR FRIENDS FOR THE BEST FESTIVAL YET!
/We Are Proud to Announce our Winners for the 5th Annual Workers Unite Film Festival – 2016
June 15th, 2016
This fifth season of the Workers Unite Film Festival was the biggest and best yet, with more attendees, more venues, more creative energy and many more submissions (nearly 160 projects on workers, their lives and their efforts to build their unions). With over 40 programs all over NYC and over 80 films and events, #WUFFNYC has grown to be one of the largest worker/labor dedicated cultural events in the country.
This year we made an effort to include a major multi-media piece – Every Fold Matters, which played to sold out crowds every night at our wonderful partner’s space in Brooklyn – Union Docs. We also included two music nights, with many talented performers and partnered with Local 802AFM to help raise awareness about the union in these burgeoning music clubs in Brooklyn and with performing artists who had not yet joined Local 802AFM. We expanded to both Queens and The Bronx with community screenings, and will continue these year round.
But our main focus remains films and we received so many excellent ones this season it was very difficult to reject several of the good ones and even harder to pick winners in each category. We love all our filmmakers and their amazing dedication to telling such important stories, stories almost continually ignored by the mainstream media. These "Best Of" and "Honorable Mention" designations, then, are the films that really stood out, both as audience favorites, but also for the skill and passion with which they tell these important stories of struggle and perseverance in societies where workers and their unions are under constant attack (including our own!).
Congratulations to all our filmmakers and screenwriters and to all of our wonderful attendees and sponsors who help make this the largest worker/labor film festival in the country. We are thrilled to have made it to 5 and with all your help (we do have some amazing festival tee shirts still available for a small donation!) – Workers Unite Film Festival 6 will be even better!
Audience Favorite
Every Fold Matters (multi-media production) - Produced and Directed by
Lynne Sachs & Lizzie Olesker
Special Jury Award
Finish Line: The Rise and Demise Of Off-Track Betting – Directed by Joseph Fusco
Best Documentary Feature
Profiled – Directed by Kathleen Foster
Documentary Feature • Honorable Mention
A Bold Peace – Directed by Matthew Eddy
Best Narrative Feature
Psychos (Russia) – Directed by Aleksey Kitaytsev
Honorable Mention • Narrative Feature
Human Resources – Directed by Keil Troisi
Best Narrative Short
Sista In the Brotherhood – Directed by Dawn Jones Redstone
Honorable Mention • Narrative Short (tie)
Wall (Greece) – Directed by Maya Tsamprou, Harris Tsambas & Mark Sargent
Under Skin In Blood (Australia) – Directed by Larissa Behrendt
Best Documentary Short
Every Row A Path – Directed by Jill Freidberg
Honorable Mention • Documentary Short
Waiting for the (T)rain (France) – Directed by Simon Panay
Best Film from the Frontlines
The Learning Alliance (Pakistan) – Directed by Muhammad Umar Saeed
Honorable Mention • Film from the Frontlines
A Piece of The Dream Series: Amanda/Dominisha/Jahmeera –
Produced by The Workers Development Institute – Directed by: Darian Henry & Maya Suchak
Best Screenplay
Shula Sees the Light – Written by Laura Kelber
Honorable Mention – Screenplay
Slavecatcher – Written by Matthew Pillischer