Organized And Presented By The Labor Heritage Foundation And The Afi Silver Theatre And Cultural Center, This Annual Series Features A Wide-Ranging Selection Of Films About Work, Workers And The Wider Issues Affecting Workers' Lives. With The Presentation Of A Union Card, Union Members Will Receive A Silver Cinema Club Ticket Discount At The Star Level.

Schedule Of Events:

Thursday, May 1, 2025

7:00 pm: Lilly - Opening Night

To Provide A Better Life For Her Family, Lilly Ledbetter (Patricia Clarkson) Spent The Better Part Of Two Decades Working Up The Ladder At An Alabama Tire Factory. But For The Sake Of Her Paycheck, She Had To Face A Dehumanizing Work Environment Plagued By Harassment. As Her Retirement Approaches, Lilly Makes A Startling Revelation - The Company Has Been Paying Her Only Half Of What Her Male Counterparts Receive. Outraged, And With The Support Of Her Husband (John Benjamin Hickey) And A Brilliant Civil Rights Lawyer (Thomas Sadoski), Lilly's Fight For Justice Takes Her To The Supreme Court, Congress And All The Way To The White House. Featuring Tour-De-Force Performances And A Heart-Stirring Love Story At Its Center, Lilly Follows The Transformation Of An Ordinary Citizen Into The Face Of Equal Pay, Illuminating The Courageous, Personal Cost Of Activism. Dir-Scr Rachel Feldman; Scr Adam Prince; Prod Kelly E. Ashton, Kerianne Flynn, J. Todd Harris, Julie Kaufman, Simone Pero, Jyoti Sarda, Christine Schwarzman, Allyn Stewart. U.S. 2024, Color, 93 Min.

Friday, May 2, 2025

4:45 pm: Calamity (Kalamita) - New 4k Restoration

Several Years After Returning To The Czechoslovak Film Industry From Political Excommunication, V?ra Chytilova Crafted One Of Her Finest Satires With 1982's Calamity, A Seemingly Conventional Sex Comedy That Takes Covert Aim At The Communist Government's Institutional Rot. When Directionless Slacker Honza (Bolek Polívka, Soon To Become A Chytilova Regular) Drops Out Of College, He Decides To Take On A Career As A Train Conductor, To The Perplexity Of His Father And Friends. Yet Almost Nothing Goes Right For Honza, Who Must Not Only Navigate The Bureaucratic Absurdities Of The State-Controlled Railway System But Also The Romantic Advances Of Three Different Women (Dagmar Blahova, Jana Synkova And Jaroslava Kretschmerova), Leading Up To An Uproarious Finale Set On A Snowbound Train. Employing Endlessly Inventive Narrative Left Turns, Chytilova Incisively Criticizes The Regressive Intransigence Of Czechoslovakia's "Normalization" Era With Her Patented Brand Of Gleeful, Anarchic Mirth. Dir-Scr Vera Chytilova; Josef Silhavy. Czechoslovakia, 1982, Color, 101 Min. In Czech With English Subtitles.

Saturday, May 3, 2025

4:30 pm: Calamity (Kalamita) - New 4k Restoration

Several Years After Returning To The Czechoslovak Film Industry From Political Excommunication, V?ra Chytilova Crafted One Of Her Finest Satires With 1982's Calamity, A Seemingly Conventional Sex Comedy That Takes Covert Aim At The Communist Government's Institutional Rot. When Directionless Slacker Honza (Bolek Polívka, Soon To Become A Chytilova Regular) Drops Out Of College, He Decides To Take On A Career As A Train Conductor, To The Perplexity Of His Father And Friends. Yet Almost Nothing Goes Right For Honza, Who Must Not Only Navigate The Bureaucratic Absurdities Of The State-Controlled Railway System But Also The Romantic Advances Of Three Different Women (Dagmar Blahova, Jana Synkova And Jaroslava Kretschmerova), Leading Up To An Uproarious Finale Set On A Snowbound Train. Employing Endlessly Inventive Narrative Left Turns, Chytilova Incisively Criticizes The Regressive Intransigence Of Czechoslovakia's "Normalization" Era With Her Patented Brand Of Gleeful, Anarchic Mirth. Dir-Scr Vera Chytilova; Josef Silhavy. Czechoslovakia, 1982, Color, 101 Min. In Czech With English Subtitles.

Sunday, May 4, 2025

8:15 pm: Calamity (Kalamita) - New 4k Restoration

Several Years After Returning To The Czechoslovak Film Industry From Political Excommunication, V?ra Chytilova Crafted One Of Her Finest Satires With 1982's Calamity, A Seemingly Conventional Sex Comedy That Takes Covert Aim At The Communist Government's Institutional Rot. When Directionless Slacker Honza (Bolek Polívka, Soon To Become A Chytilova Regular) Drops Out Of College, He Decides To Take On A Career As A Train Conductor, To The Perplexity Of His Father And Friends. Yet Almost Nothing Goes Right For Honza, Who Must Not Only Navigate The Bureaucratic Absurdities Of The State-Controlled Railway System But Also The Romantic Advances Of Three Different Women (Dagmar Blahova, Jana Synkova And Jaroslava Kretschmerova), Leading Up To An Uproarious Finale Set On A Snowbound Train. Employing Endlessly Inventive Narrative Left Turns, Chytilova Incisively Criticizes The Regressive Intransigence Of Czechoslovakia's "Normalization" Era With Her Patented Brand Of Gleeful, Anarchic Mirth. Dir-Scr Vera Chytilova; Josef Silhavy. Czechoslovakia, 1982, Color, 101 Min. In Czech With English Subtitles.

Monday, May 5, 2025

2:30 pm: Calamity (Kalamita) - New 4k Restoration

Several Years After Returning To The Czechoslovak Film Industry From Political Excommunication, V?ra Chytilova Crafted One Of Her Finest Satires With 1982's Calamity, A Seemingly Conventional Sex Comedy That Takes Covert Aim At The Communist Government's Institutional Rot. When Directionless Slacker Honza (Bolek Polívka, Soon To Become A Chytilova Regular) Drops Out Of College, He Decides To Take On A Career As A Train Conductor, To The Perplexity Of His Father And Friends. Yet Almost Nothing Goes Right For Honza, Who Must Not Only Navigate The Bureaucratic Absurdities Of The State-Controlled Railway System But Also The Romantic Advances Of Three Different Women (Dagmar Blahova, Jana Synkova And Jaroslava Kretschmerova), Leading Up To An Uproarious Finale Set On A Snowbound Train. Employing Endlessly Inventive Narrative Left Turns, Chytilova Incisively Criticizes The Regressive Intransigence Of Czechoslovakia's "Normalization" Era With Her Patented Brand Of Gleeful, Anarchic Mirth. Dir-Scr Vera Chytilova; Josef Silhavy. Czechoslovakia, 1982, Color, 101 Min. In Czech With English Subtitles.

6:50 pm: Clockwatchers

Office Space Meets Girlfriends In The 1997 Workplace Dramedy Clockwatchers. Temp Worker Margaret (Parker Posey) Feels Jilted After A New Employee Is Hired For A Permanent Position She Was Vying For. Her Friends - Iris (Toni Collette), Paula (Lisa Kudrow) And Jane (Alanna Ubach) - Want To Help Out, But Their Relationships Are Tested When A Series Of Thefts Wreak Havoc On The Workplace. Boasting An Incredible Cast, A Sharp Script And A Surprisingly Bittersweet Tone, Clockwatchers Is Nothing Short Of A Great Time At The Movies. Dir-Scr Jill Sprecher; Scr Karen Sprecher; Prod Gina Resnick. Uk-U.S., 1997, Color, 96 Min.

Tuesday, May 6, 2025

12:30 pm: Calamity (Kalamita) - New 4k Restoration

Several Years After Returning To The Czechoslovak Film Industry From Political Excommunication, V?ra Chytilova Crafted One Of Her Finest Satires With 1982's Calamity, A Seemingly Conventional Sex Comedy That Takes Covert Aim At The Communist Government's Institutional Rot. When Directionless Slacker Honza (Bolek Polívka, Soon To Become A Chytilova Regular) Drops Out Of College, He Decides To Take On A Career As A Train Conductor, To The Perplexity Of His Father And Friends. Yet Almost Nothing Goes Right For Honza, Who Must Not Only Navigate The Bureaucratic Absurdities Of The State-Controlled Railway System But Also The Romantic Advances Of Three Different Women (Dagmar Blahova, Jana Synkova And Jaroslava Kretschmerova), Leading Up To An Uproarious Finale Set On A Snowbound Train. Employing Endlessly Inventive Narrative Left Turns, Chytilova Incisively Criticizes The Regressive Intransigence Of Czechoslovakia's "Normalization" Era With Her Patented Brand Of Gleeful, Anarchic Mirth. Dir-Scr Vera Chytilova; Josef Silhavy. Czechoslovakia, 1982, Color, 101 Min. In Czech With English Subtitles.

Thursday, May 8, 2025

2:15 pm: Calamity (Kalamita) - New 4k Restoration

Several Years After Returning To The Czechoslovak Film Industry From Political Excommunication, V?ra Chytilova Crafted One Of Her Finest Satires With 1982's Calamity, A Seemingly Conventional Sex Comedy That Takes Covert Aim At The Communist Government's Institutional Rot. When Directionless Slacker Honza (Bolek Polívka, Soon To Become A Chytilova Regular) Drops Out Of College, He Decides To Take On A Career As A Train Conductor, To The Perplexity Of His Father And Friends. Yet Almost Nothing Goes Right For Honza, Who Must Not Only Navigate The Bureaucratic Absurdities Of The State-Controlled Railway System But Also The Romantic Advances Of Three Different Women (Dagmar Blahova, Jana Synkova And Jaroslava Kretschmerova), Leading Up To An Uproarious Finale Set On A Snowbound Train. Employing Endlessly Inventive Narrative Left Turns, Chytilova Incisively Criticizes The Regressive Intransigence Of Czechoslovakia's "Normalization" Era With Her Patented Brand Of Gleeful, Anarchic Mirth. Dir-Scr Vera Chytilova; Josef Silhavy. Czechoslovakia, 1982, Color, 101 Min. In Czech With English Subtitles.

Sunday, May 11, 2025

2:00 pm: The Last Showgirl

Pamela Anderson Is A Sublime, Sequin-Adorned Presence In Gia Coppola's Heartfelt Portrait Of A Las Vegas Showgirl Facing The End Of Her 30-Plus-Year Career. In Her 50s And As Passionate As Ever About Her Craft, Shelly (Anderson) Lives A Hardscrabble Life Among Her Chosen Family Of Fellow Performers - A Loving Motley Crew Who All Respect The Grind Of Making A Living As Part Of The Strip's Last Remaining Traditional Floor Show, "The Razzle Dazzle." When The Show's Stage Manager Eddie (Dave Bautista) Unexpectedly Announces Its Imminent Closure Shelly And Her Fellow Dancers Must Make Some Tough Decisions About Their Futures. Struggling To Process The News, She Attempts To Reconnect With Her Semi-Estranged Daughter (Billie Lourd) And Seeks The Advice Of Former Showgirl Annette (Jamie Lee Curtis), A Gambling-Addicted Cocktail Waitress With Her Own Losses To Process. With Anderson At Its Emotional Center, The Last Showgirl Features A Phenomenal Supporting Cast Including Bautista, Curtis And Lourd, As Well As Brenda Song And Kiernan Shipka. Coppola Sensitively, Even Humorously, Explores The Impossible Expectations Placed On Women In The Entertainment Industry - As True For A Longtime Vegas Showgirl As They Are For The Phenomenal Veteran Hollywood Actress Who Plays Her. Dir-Prod Gia Coppola; Scr Kate Gersten; Prod Natalie Farrey, Robert Schwartzman. U.S., 2024, Color, 88 Min

Monday, May 12, 2025

6:45 pm: Blue Sun Palace

Within The Confines Of A Massage Parlor In Flushing, Queens, Amy (Ke-Xi Wu, Nina Wu) And Didi (Haipeng Xu, Where Echoes Never End) Navigate Romance, Happiness And The Obligations Of Family Thousands Of Miles From Home. Despite The Physical And Emotional Toll Their Work Demands, The Women Have Fortified An Impenetrable Sisterhood, Which Tragically Collapses When Disaster Strikes On Lunar New Year. The Film Co-Stars Tsai Ming-Liang Regular Lee Kang-Sheng (Stray Dogs, The Wayward Cloud). Official Selection, 2024 Cannes Film Festival; 2025 New Directors-New Films. Dir-Scr Constance Tsang; Prod Sally Sujin Oh, Eli Raskin, Tony Yang. U.S., 2024, Color, 116 Min. In English, Mandarin And Min Nan With English Subtitles

Wednesday, May 14, 2025

6:40 pm: La Cocina

Mexican Auteur Alonso Ruizpalacios (A Cop Movie, Gueros, Museo) Brings New Meaning To Kitchen-Sink Realism With His Adaptation Of British Playwright Arnold Wesker's "The Kitchen," Transferring The Action From Mid-Century London To Present-Day New York City To Craft A Tragicomic Tribute To Life Behind The Scenes Of A Busy Times Square Restaurant. Shifting Between The Balletic Machinations Of A Kitchen During The Lunchtime Rush And The Explosive Interpersonal Conflicts Boiling Just Beneath The Surface Of Its Well-Oiled Routine, Ruizpalacios Channels The Bear As If Reimagined By John Cassavetes, Creating A High-Wire Drama That Explores The Illusions Of The American Dream And The Lengths To Which The Kitchen's Working Class And Largely Undocumented Staff Must Go To Achieve It. At The Heart Of The Brilliant Ensemble Cast Is Raúl Briones (A Cop Movie) As Mexican Chef Pedro, A Fiery-Tempered Dreamer Entangled In A Turbulent Affair With Julia (Oscar®-Nominated Actress Rooney Mara), A Harried Waitress With Her Own Crosses To Bear. When $800 Goes Missing And Everyone Becomes A Suspect, The Resulting Tension Threatens To Push The Kitchen's Unrelenting Pace And Hierarchical Divisions Further Into Chaos. Dir-Scr-Prod Alonso Ruizpalacios, From The Play "The Kitchen" By Arnold Wesker; Prod Gerardo Gatica, Lauren Mann, Ivan Orlic, Ramiro Ruiz. Mexico-U.S., 2024, Bandw, 139 Min. In English And Spanish With English Subtitles

Saturday, May 17, 2025

1:30 pm: Manthan (The Churning) - New 4k Restoration

A Treatise On Workers' Rights And The Inequities Of Rigid Caste Systems, Manthan Was India's First Crowdfunded Film, Having Been Produced By 500,000 Farmers Who Donated Two Rupees Each - A Testament To The Power Of Collective Action. In The Film, Dr. Rao (Girish Karnad), A Young Veterinarian, Visits An Impoverished Village And Helps Its Poor Residents Set Up A Dairy Cooperative That Will Get Them A Fair Price For Their Milk And Better Their Lives. The Film Was Inspired By The Real-Life Milk Cooperative Movement Led By Verghese Kurien, Who Received An Onscreen Credit For His Contribution To The Film's Story. This Gorgeous Restoration Premiered In The Classic Section Of The 2024 Cannes Film Festival. Dir-Prod Shyam Benegal; Scr Vijay Tendulkar. India, 1976, Color, 134 Min. In Hindi With English Subtitles.

Sunday, May 18, 2025

2:00 pm: Nine To Five

In This Hilarious Caper, Three Working Women (Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin And Dolly Parton) Live Out Their Fantasy Of Getting Even With Their "Sexist, Egotistical, Lying, Hypocritical Bigot" Boss (Dabney Coleman). Undervalued And Underpaid, The Secretaries Take Over The Office And Implement Flextime, Day Care, Equal Pay And More. A Major Box Office Success (The Film Grossed More Than $100m), Nine To Five Inspired A Tv Sitcom Of The Same Name, As Well As A Broadway Musical. Dir-Scr Colin Higgins; Scr Patricia Resnick; Prod Bruce Gilbert. U.S., 1980, Color, 110 Min

Tuesday, May 20, 2025

7:00 pm: September 5

At The 1972 Munich Olympics, The Abc Sports Broadcasting Crew Led By Roone Arledge (Peter Sarsgaard) Must Suddenly Pivot To Covering Hard News When The Israeli Olympic Team Is Taken Hostage By The Palestinian Terrorist Group Black September. The Tragic Events From That Day Are Well Known To History, But Less So Are The Extraordinary Efforts Of Journalists Who Made Quick And Innovative - Though Less Than Ideal - Decisions To Document The Events As They Unfolded. After Shots Ring Out From The Olympic Village Neighboring The Abc Sports Studio, The German Police Lock Down The Area, With Only Resident Athletes Allowed Entry. Realizing That Their Sports Unit May Be Able To Cover A Breaking Story No News Division Can, Arledge's Team Goes To Work: Wheeling A Massive Tv Camera Outside To Get Images Of The Terrorists On An Apartment Balcony, Impersonating A U.S. Athlete To Smuggle 16mm Equipment In And Out Of The Village And Promoting German Translator Marianne Gebhardt (Leonie Benesch) To A De Facto Field Reporter. Director And Co-Writer Tim Fehlbaum Captures Not Only The Urgency Of The Moment And The Creative Solutions To Multiple Challenges But Also Where Accuracy Becomes Endangered In The Drive To Get The Story. Dir-Scr-Prod Tim Fehlbaum; Scr Moritz Binder, Alex David; Prod Mark Nolting, John Ira Palmer, Sean Penn, Philipp Trauer, John Wildermuth, Thomas Wöbke. Germany-U.S., 2024, Color, 95 Min. In English And German With English Subtitles

Wednesday, May 21, 2025

6:45 pm: Manthan (The Churning) - New 4k Restoration

A Treatise On Workers' Rights And The Inequities Of Rigid Caste Systems, Manthan Was India's First Crowdfunded Film, Having Been Produced By 500,000 Farmers Who Donated Two Rupees Each - A Testament To The Power Of Collective Action. In The Film, Dr. Rao (Girish Karnad), A Young Veterinarian, Visits An Impoverished Village And Helps Its Poor Residents Set Up A Dairy Cooperative That Will Get Them A Fair Price For Their Milk And Better Their Lives. The Film Was Inspired By The Real-Life Milk Cooperative Movement Led By Verghese Kurien, Who Received An Onscreen Credit For His Contribution To The Film's Story. This Gorgeous Restoration Premiered In The Classic Section Of The 2024 Cannes Film Festival. Dir-Prod Shyam Benegal; Scr Vijay Tendulkar. India, 1976, Color, 134 Min. In Hindi With English Subtitles.

Thusday, May 22, 2025

6:45 pm: 2k Restoration - Bless Their Little Hearts

A Key Masterpiece Of The La Rebellion Film Movement, Bless Their Little Hearts Distills The Social Concerns And Aesthetics Of That Trailblazing Moment In African American Cinema. Searching For Steady Work, Former Factory Worker Charlie Banks (Nate Hardman) Views His Chronic Unemployment As A Kind Of Spiritual Trial. But Selling A Few Catfish Cannot Sustain A Family Of Five While His Wife, Andais (Kaycee Moore), Works To Support Them With Dignity. Unable To Face His Own Failures, Charlie Finds Solace In An Affair That Threatens His Marriage, His Children And Everything He Holds Dear. Named To The National Film Registry In 2013, Bless Their Little Hearts Features Contributions By Two Iconic American Artists: Charles Burnett (Killer Of Sheep, To Sleep With Anger), Who Wrote And Shot The Film, And Moore (Daughters Of The Dust), Whose Powerful Performance As Andais Banks Remains A Revelation. Bless Their Little Hearts Showcases Director Billy Woodberry's Attentive Eye And Sensitivity To Real-Life Issues, Making For An Agonizingly Beautiful Film Which, In The Words Of Village Voice Critic Jim Ridley, "Forms, With Killer Of Sheep, A Landmark Diptych About Work As The Crucible Of The American Character - Either In Its Abundance Or Its Absence." Dir-Prod Billy Woodberry; Scr Charles Burnett. U.S., 1983, Bandw, 85 Min.

Tuesday, May 27, 2025

6:45 pm: 20th Anniversary - Good Night, And Good Luck

Good Night, And Good Luck. Takes Place During The Early Days Of Broadcast Journalism In 1950s America. It Chronicles The Real-Life Conflict Between Television Newsman Edward R. Murrow (David Strathairn) And Senator Joseph Mccarthy And The Permanent Subcommittee On Investigations (Government Operations Committee). With A Desire To Report The Facts And Enlighten The Public, Murrow And His Dedicated Staff - Headed By His Producer Fred Friendly (George Clooney) And Joe Wershba (Robert Downey Jr.) In The Cbs Newsroom - Defy Corporate And Sponsorship Pressures To Examine The Lies And Scaremongering Tactics Perpetrated By Mccarthy During His Communist "Witch Hunts." A Very Public Feud Develops When The Senator Responds By Accusing The Anchor Of Being A Communist. In This Climate Of Fear And Reprisal, The Cbs Crew Carries On Regardless, And Their Tenacity Eventually Pays Off When Mccarthy Is Brought Before The Senate And Made Powerless As His Lies And Bullying Tactics Are Finally Uncovered. Dir-Scr George Clooney; Scr-Prod Grant Heslov. Uk-France-Japan-U.S., 2005, Bandw, 93 Min.

Thursday, May 29, 2025

7:00 pm: Strike (1925) (Stachka) - Closing Night

Silent with live musical accompaniment by Andrew Earle Simpson

Trouble is brewing at a large factory in Tsar-era Russia: laborers are overworked and underpaid, and when a man falsely accused of theft kills himself, his comrades will not stand for it anymore. Sergei Eisenstein - then an up-and-coming theater director, later an eccentric genius whose name would become synonymous with Soviet filmmaking - was only 26 when he directed STRIKE. His startling feature film debut broke every convention of the time to create a revolutionary cinema for the new country. DIR-SCR Sergei Eisenstein; SCR Grigoriy Aleksandrov, Ilya Kravchunovsky, Valerian Pletnev. USSR, 1925, bandw, 89 min. Silent with English intertitles.

Date:
May 1 - 29, 2025

Location:
AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center,
8633 Colesville Rd,
Silver Spring, MD 20910

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