First Trailer for Acclaimed Doc ‘Union’ About Chris Smalls and the ALU
by Alex Billington
August 28, 2024
Source: YouTube
“There’s nothing that can stop our momentum.” The New York Film Festival has debuted an official trailer for a documentary film titled Union, an inside look at one of the recent labor union movements. The film originally premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival earlier this year (it’s excellent) and it also played at CPH:DOX, True/False, Full Frame, Hot Docs, and many other doc fests; it will next be showing at NYFF in October. A group of current and former Amazon workers in New York City’s Staten Island challenges one of the world’s largest companies in a unionization battle. The film tells the story of the rise of Chris Smalls, an Amazon worker who founded the ALU – the Amazon Labor Union – in 2021 after being fired by Amazon. The documentary is a very powerful, vérité-style look at the way grassroots movements and small unions are confronting the modern capitalistic corporate landscape. Along with their own challenges. “The result is an immersive portrait that celebrates solidarity while acknowledging the difficult decisions & internal conflicts that make any collective action possible.” I’m glad to have seen this doc, it’s one of these films that should be shown in schools to educate every young person in America & also show them what a real leader looks like.
Here’s the first festival promo trailer for Brett Story & Stephen Maing’s doc Union, direct from YouTube:
In 2022, workers at an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island, sick and tired of the lack of job stability from a company notorious for constant worker turnover, made headlines after the newly formed Amazon Labor Union voted to unionize. For their absorbing documentary, Brett Story & Stephen Maing follow the day-to-day struggles of the ALU, made up of current and former employees, including the charismatic and indefatigable leader Chris Smalls, and capture the events that led to this remarkable—but by no means conclusive—historic moment in modern history. The result is an immersive cinematic portrait celebrating solidarity while acknowledging the difficult decisions & internal conflicts that make any collective action possible—especially when up against a corporate goliath in a post-Reagan era when worker organizations have become political anathema. Union is co-directed by two filmmakers Brett Story (Land of Destiny, The Prison in Twelve Landscapes, The Hottest August) & Stephen Maing (Crime + Punishment, “Mind/Trip”), making their first feature film together. It’s produced by Samantha Curley, Martin Dicicco, Stephen Maing, Brett Story, Mars Verrone. This initially premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. The doc film will debut in US theaters starting on October,18th, 2024 this fall. Anyone interested?