DC Labor Fest

The Metropolitan Washington Council's 2021 DC Labor FilmFest is underway, featuring virtual screenings of both new films and classics about worker organizing. On April 7th, Labor Fest screened "LAPSIS," a sci-fi dark comedy that explores the impact of big tech and the gig economy on workers. Juxtaposing the utopian vision put forward by big tech with a harsh reality where automation is used to further exploit workers, LAPSIS follows the story of Queens delivery man Ray Tincelli. Ray decides to take on gig work "cabling" for a new technology in order to afford medical care for his brother and is thrown headfirst into the struggle. After the screening, there was a post-film discussion with Katie Parker, Administrative Organizer with the Nonprofit Professional Employees Union (NPEU/IFPTE Local 70) and Margaret Poydock, Policy Analyst at the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), moderated by labor journalist Sarah Jaffe (author of Work Won't Love You Back: How Devotion to Our Jobs Keeps Us Exploited, Exhausted, and Alone), who found many relatable parallels to current fights underway from Amazon to nonprofits.

The next installment of the series, which is co-hosted with AFI Silver Theatre and financially supported by American Income Life, National Nurses United and IFPTE, will be "Martin Eden" screened on Wednesday April 14th. Adapted from a 1909 novel by Jack London, the film, set in Italy, follows the political awakening of Martin, an aspiring artist who confronts the realities of class divisions. The film was the winner of the Best Actor prize at the Venice Film Festival and the Platform Prize at the Toronto International Film Festival.