"The Hand That Feeds" to have world premier at Full Frame Film Festival (4/5)
Powerful new documentary on restaurant worker organizing premiers April 5th in Durham
A story anyone with a heart for justice would love will get told for the first time at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival in Durham.
The Hand that Feeds tells the story of the against-all-odds victory of a group of low-wage immigrant workers of color who seek economic justice. The Durham Herald-Sun called the film "the new American workers' story."
Shy sandwich-maker Mahoma López sets out to end abusive conditions at a popular New York restaurant chain. The epic power struggle that ensues turns a single city block into a battlefield in America's new wage wars.
View the trailer on the official website: http://thehandthatfeedsfilm.com
World premiere screening details:
When: Saturday, April 5 at 10:10 AM
Where: Cinema 3 in the Durham Convention Center, 201 Foster St., Durham, NC 27701
Tickets: Buy tickets ($15): https://store.fullframefest.org/Online/default.asp
**Please arrive early. Seating begins 30 minutes before screening. If you arrive after seating has concluded, your ticket no longer guarantees a seat.**
The screening will be followed by Q&A with directors Rachel Lears and Robin Blotnick, one of the film's subjects, and local worker leaders.
Let your friends and family on Facebook know you're going to this special event.
"In an era when large unions are in danger and several states have laws that benefit management more than workers, The Hand That Feeds shows a new way of unionizing," writes Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan for the Durham Herald-Sun review:
"The Hand That Feeds is a documentary that Americans need to see." -- Durham Herald-Sun, 3/26/14
Follow the filmmakers on Twitter.
Film Synopsis (courtesy of Full Frame):
Will a seemingly powerless group of New York City restaurant workers prevail when they organize in an effort to achieve decent working conditions? The restaurant employees doing the toughest jobs are often undocumented workers who are vulnerable to unsafe environments, low wages without benefits, and job insecurity. At a Hot & Crusty location on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, a handful of workers band together to create a union and secure better pay, with benefits, and more respect. When the owners and managers retaliate, the union finds community support from well-heeled pedestrians, tenacious Occupy Wall Street activists, and working people of every stripe. The story suggests that organized labor’s future, in a time of widening economic inequality, might depend on building such coalitions. The film’s suspense rises as the union continues its fight. Memorable characters and unexpected surprises intensify this saga of grit and solidarity.
Download the movie poster in color and black & white.
The Hand that Feeds is part of the Reel Economy initiative from Wilmington, NC-based non-profit Working Films. In July 2013 the filmmakers produced a short (7 minute) film, drawn from this documentary project, for The New York Times’ Op-Doc series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vCrNrG8n8lU.