Filmmaker Rachel Lears (an alumna of our Culture & Media Program) will screen clips from her new film next week in NYC:
Thursday, November 6, 2014
7-9 pm
Hemispheric Institute of Performance & Politics
20 Cooper Square, 5th Floor
New York, NY 10003

Wine reception to follow. This event is free and open to the public. A photo ID is required to enter NYU buildings. 20 Cooper is a wheelchair accessible venue.
This event will be livestreamed. To view the live video feed starting at 7pm (EST), click here.
ABOUT THE FILM: At a popular bakery café, residents of New York’s Upper East Side get bagels and coffee served with a smile 24 hours a day. But behind the scenes, undocumented immigrant workers face sub-legal wages, dangerous machinery, and abusive managers who will fire them for calling in sick. Mild-mannered sandwich maker Mahoma López has never been interested in politics, but in January 2012, he convinces a small group of his co-workers to fight back. Risking deportation and the loss of their livelihood, the workers team up with a diverse crew of innovative young organizers and take the unusual step of forming their own independent union, launching themselves on a journey that will test the limits of their resolve.
ABOUT THE EVENT: Mahoma López and Vergilio Arán of the Laundry Workers Center, the main subjects of the film and organizers of the Hot and Crusty campaign, will join filmmakers Rachel Lears and Robin Blotnick in a simultaneously translated discussion. They will relate the strategies it took to overcome a two-month lockout, back door legal battles, and a picket line that divided a neighborhood and the soul it took to ensure they will never be exploited again.
The Hand that Feeds is directed and produced by Rachel Lears and Robin Blotnick.
The Critical Tactics Lab (CTL) is the Hemispheric Institute’s permanent forum for discussion and research on the practices and methods of contemporary and historical political action. Drawing on the work of Yes Lab and the Creative Activism Series and the Institute’s ongoing work with political artists and activists from the Americas, the CTL’s mission is to promote and strengthen critical reflection about the tactics and strategies of political movements as well as the multiple processes and modes of analysis through which these are arrived at. Through lectures, workshops, courses, and other modes of assembly—and with an emphasis on laughter and embodied practice—the CTL seek to provide a space in which the expansive affinities of critical practice and action can be made visible and strengthened.

The NYU Culture & Media Program is well represented at the upcoming DOC NYC Film Festival! Congratulations to all!

9-MAN
Associate Produced by Bing Wang (C&M alumna)

Played since the 1930s, 9-Man, a variant of volleyball, was developed by Chinese immigrants to America as both an athletic pastime and a social outlet in a time of widespread anti-Chinese sentiment, discrimination and segregation. Ursula Liang’s film traces the game’s fascinating history as a backdrop to the present-day national championship, in which Asian-American players, now fully integrated into mainstream North American culture, defy stereotypes about Asian masculinity and athleticism even as they connect to their heritage.
2:00 PM, Sat Nov 15 | SVA Theatre

THE HAND THAT FEEDS
Directed by Rachel Lears (C&M alumna) and Robin Blotnick

NYC PREMIERE An Upper East Side Hot & Crusty bakery serves as the unlikely setting for an old-fashioned David vs. Goliath story in Rachel Lears and Robin Blotnick’s rousing film. After years of exploitation, Mahoma López, an unassuming sandwich maker, leads his fellow service workers as they demand better working conditions and wages. Risking their livelihood—and, for some, deportation—they take to the streets to plead their case to their regular customers, partnering with impassioned young Occupy activists in a hard-fought battle to prove the power of labor organizing.
2:30 PM, Sun Nov 16 | IFC Center

BACK ON BOARD: GREG LOUGANIS
Directed by Cheryl Furjanic (C&M’s Media Production Specialist)

NYC PREMIERE This strikingly candid profile explores the triumphs and tragedies of Greg Louganis, considered by many the greatest diver of all time. A four-time Olympian, Louganis became a household name and an inspiration to countless athletes, but after he publicly revealed his sexuality and HIV status, the backlash cost him dearly. Back on Board follows Louganis as he simultaneously faces the loss of his home and the possibility of redemption, returning to the diving board to mentor the 2012 US Olympic diving team. This screening is co-presented by NewFest.
6:45 PM, Sun Nov 16 | SVA Theatre

CAST IN INDIA
Directed by Natasha Raheja (C&M alumna)

Iconic and ubiquitous, thousands of manhole covers dot the streets of New York City. Enlivening the everyday objects around us, this short film is a glimpse of the working lives of the men behind the manhole covers in New York City. This is playing part of the SHORTS PROGRAM: PARTS + LABOR
9:00 PM, Sun Nov 16 | Bow Tie Chelsea Cinemas

Congratulations to C&M alumna Rachel Lears! Her film The Hand That Feeds won the Jury Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 16th annual Sidewalk Film Festival in Birmingham, Alabama!

Congratulations to Pegi Vail, associate director of the Center for Media Culture & History (and a C&M alumna)! Her film Gringo Trails will make its NYC theatrical debut from September 4-11 at Cinema Village!
Catch these exciting Q&As after the 7pm screenings:
Thurs Sept 4th: Costas Christ (Nat Geo Traveler), Peter Greenberg (CBS)
Friday 5th: Seth Kugel (NY Times Frugal Traveler), La Francis Hui (Asia Society)
Sat 6th: George Green (The Moth), Connelly LaMar (VICE video producer)
Watch the trailer for the film HERE and
get your tickets today!

Congratulations to C&M alumna Elise Andaya. Her book, “Conceiving Cuba: Reproduction, Women, and the State in the Post-Soviet Era,” is out now from Rutgers University Press.