Films

GRASSROOTS RISING
(United States/Canada, 2004) Dir./Scr.:

GRASSROOTS RISING offers an examination of contemporary labor-worker movements in Los Angeles, focussing on the resurgence of political activism among the City of Angel’s Asian, Latino, and other underclass workers. The latest production from Visual Communications, GRASSROOTS RISING juxtaposes poetry by spoken word artist Alison de la Cruz with the stories of immigrant workers, slave laborers, and activists alike. Koreatown restaurant workers arbitrarily fired despite being too ill to work, Pilipino housekeepers kept as cheap labor, and Thai women held captive in a virtual prison sweatshop are observed along with supermarket workers picketing for better wages and working conditions. GRASSROOTS RISING profiles how the sharp reality of living as immigrants or exploited underclass workers in Los Angeles is redirected into grassroots activism.

35mm, 88 minutes