Closing Night at Cinema Village Today -
Thursday 10/29!
Virtual Fest Begins Tomorrow | | American Hate: Survivors Speak screens at 6:30pm Tonight, Thursday 10/29 | | Full Schedule/Tickets on Eventbrite
(Click 'read more' and scroll down on each program for film descriptions and trailers) | | Tickets are $10 for each program block, with a few Free screenings, and are available both online at Eventbrite and at the door (unless sold out). Filmmakers have full passes and a certain amount of complimentary guests at their screening. If you're with an organization and have questions about special group rates, sponsorship, and/or screening partnerships, please get in touch: melanie@workersuniteff.org | | Tonight, Thursday, October 29th | Michael: Now and Then & The Conscript - 4:00pm | |
Michael: Now and Then - Nearly 50 years after his breakout thesis short film MICHAEL, a 16mm docudrama shot in South Wales about a young man (Michael) and his miner father, director Ramin Niami returns to discover what has happened to the community since, particularly following the closure of the coal mines. The film integrates scenes from the original short film alongside archival imagery and new digital material. (57m, 2026, U.K., Thursday 10/29, Director: Ramin Niami) (Trailer) + Director Q&A
| The Conscript - The Conscript traces the remnants of a 176 year history of mining in Zonguldak, Turkey’s first coal basin. Amid compulsory labour laws, abandoned workers’ towns and rusting industrial structures, the film examines how coal has shaped a city’s geography, memory and people. (1 hr 6m, 2026, Turkey, Thursday 10/29, Director: Arda Sarıgün) | American Hate: Survivors Speak - 6:30pm | American Hate: Survivors Speak - American Hate exposes the rise of violent hate crimes in America, through the lens of the victims and their families. These first person accounts give viewers an opportunity to see, hear, and feel what it means to be targeted on account of who you are or what you believe. The film moves from the scene of each crime to its long-term consequences: the grief, the haunting memories, and the permanent rupture in everyday life. Yet despite the devastation, survivors and their communities have discovered a renewed sense of purpose to advocate, organize, and seek justice. (1 hr 28m, 2025, Thursday 10/29, Directors: Harry Gantz and Arjun Sethi) (Trailer) + Director Q&A with Special Guests Vijah Ramjattan (NYC Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes) and Rachel Brown (Author of Diffusing Hate, founder of Over Zero) | The Office Farewell - To free themselves from the pressure and humiliation they endure at work every day, three colleagues plan to blow up their office. That night, with the building packed with dynamite and their plan ready to be carried out, something unexpected happens and throws their entire scheme into disarray. (2024, 18m, Thursday 10/29, Belgium, Director: Mehdi Pierret) (Trailer) | Bring Them Home - Alex and Yan fled persecution in Cuba to marry in the U.S.. When the federal government suddenly detains them and threatens deportation, their union comes together in an unprecedented way to fight for their release, illuminating the human cost of immigration policy and the power of community action. (2026, 8m, Thursday 10/29, Director: Matt Reynolds) | What We Dreamed Of Then - 9:00pm | What We Dreamed Of Then - Then, Gideon was a vibrant young father and husband. Now, he is invisibly houseless, trying to hold onto his relationship with his estranged daughter. Told through a non-linear narrative, What We Dreamed of Then weaves between past and present, revealing the fragility of hope and the resilience needed to survive isolation. (1 hr 44m, 2025, Canada, Thursday 10/29, Director: Taylor Olson) (Trailer) | |
Paper Promises - For Over 200 years, the Mead paper mill was the backbone of Chillicothe, Ohio — a source of good jobs, generational pride, and a town’s identity. In August 2025, that legacy is torn as the mill’s closure leaves more than 800 workers without jobs and a community reeling. More than just the story of a factory shutting down, Paper Promises is about broken trust, economic displacement, and the quiet resilience of a town determined to write its own future. (10m, 2025, Thursday 10/29, Directors: Grayson Kisker and Grant O'Brien)
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Gabe's Last Leg - A young optimistic service worker loses his leg to a rare bone-eating tumor while trying to keep it together at his lowest point with no help from his employer. (10m, 2026, Thursday 10/29, Director: Loren Zoltan) (Trailer)
| | Nov 10th - Free Screenings at RWDSU
IBEW Local 3 and LiUNA Local 78 Shorts, then a Preview Screening of 'Collision Course: PATCO, Reagan and the Strike That Changed America' with Q&A | | Nov 7th Activist Filmmaker Bootcamp at NYU - 12:00-6:00pm | | Select films will also screen virtually on our Eventive streaming page from Oct 30-Nov 5. | | |
Thank You to Our Season 15 Sponsors!
You make all these screenings possible.
| Interested in becoming a supporter? Email andrew@workersuniteff.org | | |
Season 15 Designs Are On Good Press
New Union Cooperative Print Shop
| | Merchandise from the festival web store makes a perfect gift for labor loving friends and family. | | Prefer to donate? Every tax-deductible donation of $35 or more allows you to select a beautiful 2026 festival tee shirt, mug, hat, or shopping tote to receive as a thank you. Just indicate the items that you want in the notes area. | | Your Support Means More Screenings and Special Events Throughout the Year | | Every $35 donation is a huge help and gets you a 2026 T-shirt, hat, or tote bag as a thank you if you so wish. | | Your donations support our work to keep workers voices in the spotlight whenever possible, from our main film festival every season to special events year-round. | |
WUFF is growing and is now recognized with support from the Office of the Manhattan Borough President, along with the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC), NYS AFL-CIO, and NYC Central Labor Council. Dozens of unions from all parts of the working world also support the Workers Unite Film Festival.
We are honored to have their support, but we need yours too. Please donate today!
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The Workers Unite Film Festival 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 Julie Menin, NYC Central Labor Council, National & NY State AFL-CIO, IBEW Local 3, IAMAW, PEF, 1199SEIU, the NY Labor History Association, UFT, RWDSU Local 338, SAG-AFTRA, and many more. Join us!
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Contact: andrew@workersuniteff.org
646-455-2225
Workers Unite Film Festival, Inc. is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit entity.
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