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2026 FILM & CULTURAL EVENTS•
Free Admission at All Reel Work Events
Voluntary donations gladly accepted
Wednesday, April 22, 2026 • 7 PM
HYBRID EVENT: SEIU 521 Union Hall, 517 Mission St, Santa Cruz
or Register for Zoom at bit.ly/RW26Apr22
Understanding Gaza Series
All That’s Left of You
Photo credit: Cinema Politica (Cherien Dabis, 2025, 146 min, Palestine)
After a Palestinian teen gets swept up into a West Bank protest, his mother recounts the family story of hope, courage and relentless struggle that led to this fateful moment.
Facilitated discussion following the film.
Sunday, April 26, 2026 • 5 PM
HYBRID EVENT: SEIU 521 Union Hall, 517 Mission St, Santa Cruz
or Register for Zoom at bit.ly/RW26Apr26
Hard Times History
A Hobo in the Great Depression
(Pauline Greenlick, 2025, 74 min, USA)
Based on the book Boarding the Westbound, the film presents Joseph F. Szalanski's travels as a hobo focusing on his two journals during the Great Depression in 1932.
Speaker: Filmmaker Pauline Greenlick will join virtually to present her film and join the Q&A.
Special guest appearance by labor activist and radical folk singer Mike Stout.
Wednesday, April 29, 2026 • 7 PM
Del Mar Theater, 1124 Pacific Ave, Santa Cruz
Groundswell in Organizing
Baristas vs. Billionaires
(Mark Mori, 2025, 72 min, USA)
The movement of Starbucks workers to form a union. The film follows the fight of a handful of baristas for living wages and decent working conditions as they lead Starbucks Workers United (SWU) in strikes and protests against billionaire CEO Howard Schultz’s scorched earth union-busting campaign, during which he has illegally fired more than 200 union organizers. But Schultz’s attempt to crush the union quickly backfires resulting in a single store’s pro-union vote in Buffalo, NY, mushrooming to 600+ union stores and 12,000 union workers.
Panel: Rank-and-file workers involved in local workplace unionization campaigns.
Watch the trailer for Baristas vs. Billionaires on the film’s website.
Friday, May 1, 2026 • 4:30-6 PM
Gather at Pacific & Soquel, downtown Santa Cruz
Solidarity On The Streets
General Strike on International Workers Day
Celebrate, Rally, March, Sing
with song leaders Aileen Vance & Nita Hertel.
Friday, May 1, 2026 • 7 PM
HYBRID EVENT: SEIU Union Hall, 517 Mission St, Santa Cruz
or Register for Zoom at bit.ly/RW26May1
The Mamdani Effect
The Rise: 100 Days of Zohran Mamdani & the New DSA Moment
Photo credit: INF0RMEDIMAGES under Creative Commons license Join us to learn more about Zohran Mamdani’s origins, immigrant roots, transition from outsider to office holder, and ideals vs. policy constraints.
Lively panel discussion after films regarding what made this success possible, what made him electable, grassroots vs. establishment power, legislative wins vs. symbolic politics, and how the DSA handles governing power.
What comes next? The scaling of political movements and how this could sweep across the nation.
The evening will feature a series of videos that document the building and achievement of the campaign to elect a socialist Muslim immigrant to lead the largest city in the U.S. whose extraordinarily diverse population includes many socialists, Muslims, and immigrants.
Panel: First-hand reports from people who witnessed the Mamdani campaign and election. There are a lot of New Yorkers in Santa Cruz. If you have a Mamdani story to tell, we'll invite you to join the panel.
Saturday, May 2, 2026 • 7 PM
HYBRID EVENT: SEIU Union Hall, 517 Mission St, Santa Cruz
or Register for Zoom at bit.ly/RW26May2
Women Taking the Lead
Iron Ladies
(Daniel Draper, 2025, 106 min, UK)
Celebrating the integral role of women during the 1984/85 Miners’ Strike in the UK and the lasting impact of their actions on the landscape of political activism.
Special Presentation: Author & Poet Kate Hitt will read from her book Single Woman Double Clutches: A School Bus Driver’s Life in Poems & Pictures.
Speaker: Filmmaker Daniel Draper will join virtually.
Watch the trailer for Iron Ladies on YouTube.
Sunday, May 3, 2026 • 5 PM
HYBRID EVENT: SEIU Union Hall, 517 Mission St, Santa Cruz
or Register for Zoom at bit.ly/RW26May3
Migration Stories
Teb Chaw (Land)
(Joua Lee Grande, 2025, 11 min, USA)
Hmong refugee farmers from Laos who settled in Minnesota.
The Market
(Oanh-Nhi Nguyen, 2025, 12 min, USA)
The journey to the Southeast Asian Market in south Philadelphia’s FDR Park, founded by refugees who carved out their own space of nourishment and belonging.
Built On Hope
(Kathryn Elise Kovalenko, 2025, 36 min, India)
Three migrant mothers live and work at a brick factory in Haryana, India, with their families, and work to build a better future for their children.
Speakers: Quyên Nguyen-Le, producer for Teb Chaw and The Market; Kathryn Kovalenko, filmmaker.
Wednesday, May 6, 2026 • 7 PM
HYBRID EVENT: SEIU 521 Union Hall, 517 Mission St, Santa Cruz
or Register for Zoom at bit.ly/RW26May6
American Socialism
The Big Scary “S” Word
(Yael Bridge, 2020, 82 min, USA)
“Socialism is as American as apple pie” says Cornell West. With inequality growing, a climate catastrophe looming, and right-wing extremism ascending around the world, many in the U.S. are wondering whether capitalism is to blame. This documentary delves into the rich history of the American socialist movement and journeys with the people striving to build a socialist future today.
Speaker: Paul Ortiz, labor historian, co-founder of Reel Work.
Watch the trailer for The Big Scary “S” Word on YouTube.
Saturday, May 9, 2026 • 7 PM
SEIU 521 Union Hall, 517 Mission St, Santa Cruz
Power of Unions
Who Moves America
Photo credit: Erick Stoll (Yael Bridge, 2026, 87 min, USA)
UPS Teamsters build solidarity among 340,000 workers as a strike deadline approaches. A work stoppage of this scale would have sent shock waves through the U.S. and global economy. The film follows a new California driver, a 1997 strike veteran in New York, and a part-time Kentucky warehouse worker as they organize and picket.
Panel: Local labor leaders and organizers including David Crawford, Teamsters Local 853, and moderated by Dana Frank, labor historian and author.
Co-sponsor: UCSC Center for Labor and Community.
Watch the trailer for Who Moves America on Vimeo.
Sunday, May 10, 2026 • 7 PM
HYBRID EVENT: SEIU 521 Union Hall, 517 Mission St, Santa Cruz
or Register for Zoom at bit.ly/RW26May10
Organizing Shorts
How They Built a Movement
(Oddett Garza, 2025, 9 min, USA)
A young activist sits down with renowned civil rights attorney Jim Harrington, founder of the Texas Civil Rights Project and Texas attorney to César Chávez, to learn the enduring lessons of grassroots organizing.
They Called It The Butcher Shop: The Fleck Strike In Images
(Lauren Stoyles, 2025, 15 min, Canada)
In 1978, in Huron Park, Ontario, the women of Fleck Manufacturing walked off of the job and into the history books.
Watch the trailer for They Called It The Butcher Shop on YouTube.
How Big AI Companies Exploit Data Workers in Kenya
(DW News, 2025, 12 min, Kenya)
An invisible workforce is sounding the alarm in Kenya. They work long hours in difficult conditions every day, sifting through millions of data points to power artificial intelligence systems. Yet they earn a fraction compared to their counterparts in developed countries, and they say the work leaves them traumatized and desperate.
Supply Chain Solidarity: Lessons from the Lithium Frontlines
(Tom Laffay & Emmett Hopkins, 2025, 27 min, USA)
Follows workers and organizers, representing different parts of the transportation supply chain on a journey across Nevada to learn first-hand about the impacts of lithium mining for electric vehicle batteries.
Watch the trailer for Supply Chain Solidarity on the film’s website.
Speakers: Filmmakers Oddett Garza, Lauren Stoyles, and Emmett Hopkins; labor, community and environmental activists Fermina Stevens, Marcie Pedraza, and Dustin Mulvaney.
Monday, May 11, 2026 • 6:30 PM
Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church, 2402 Cabrillo College Dr, Soquel
or Register for Zoom at bit.ly/RW26May11
Singing for Justice
We Were There
(Bev Grant, 2010, 5 min, USA)
A powerful celebration of women in labor history and the anthem of Bev Grant’s theater piece of the same name.
Bev Grant: A Lifetime of Liberation
(Agitator Index, 2025, 39 min, USA)
A documentary about the photographer, activist, and songwriter Bev Grant, discussing in her own words her involvement in the Women’s Liberation movement, her work as a photographer for the underground press, and her life as a songwriter.
Speaker: Bev Grant will join us virtually from Brooklyn NY to talk about her life and the making of the film.
Performance by the Santa Cruz Peace Chorale, directed by Aileen Vance.
Watch the trailer for A Lifetime of Liberation on Instagram.
Saturday, May 16, 2026 • 7 PM
HYBRID EVENT: SEIU 521 Union Hall, 517 Mission St, Santa Cruz
or Register for Zoom at bit.ly/RW26May16
Venezuela Then & Now
The Bolivarian Revolution: Enter the Oil Workers!
Photo credit: Global Women’s Strike (Bolivarian Circle of Global Women’s Strike, 2004, 34 min, Venezuela)
Oil workers saved Venezuela’s oil industry from a CIA lockout after its failed coup in 2002. Workers were motivated to put the oil industry at the service of humanity. This historical documentary provides a backdrop for discussion of the country’s social and economic conditions in recent years in relation to U.S. imperialism’s warfare against Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution, from the attempted coup of Chávez up until the most recent attacks on fishing boats, oil tanker piracy, bombings and kidnapping of President Nicolas Maduro and First Combatant Cilia Flores.
Speakers: David Paul, international medical aid voluteer, Mark Ginsburg, educator.
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