DC Labor FilmFest Helps Generate Support for Film About Sanitation Workers

(Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO)The DC Labor FilmFest, which since 2001 has screened films about work and workers, last week helped generate funds to complete an exciting new movie featuring Austin sanitation workers. In filmmaker Andy Garrison’s "Trash Dance," choreographer Allison Orr finds beauty and grace in the many unnoticed movements of sanitation workers in Austin, TX – members of an AFSCME local – carrying out their daily work. Garrison was seeking funds to finish the film through Kickstarter, the online funding platform for creative projects, so DC Labor FilmFest director Chris Garlock posted a report about the film on the AFL-CIO’s revamped blog and within hours Garrison’s goal was achieved, including a generous contribution by DC Labor FilmFest supporter Jules Bernstein. “This was an easy way to expand the Labor FilmFest’s mission of finding and screening films that celebrate the lives of working people” said Garlock. Click here to see a “Trash Dance” trailer. - screenshot from “Trash Dance” trailer