The Leo Panitch School for Socialist Education is very pleased to present Norma Rae (1979) as the next film in the FilmSocial series of socialist film screenings.

Set in a small-town Southern textile mill, the film follows Norma Rae (Sally Field), a courageous worker and single mother, who becomes politically active in her workplace after meeting Reuben Warshowsky (Ron Liebman), a charismatic New York labor organizer who arrives in town to confront crushing employment conditions at the factory and help workers form their own union. After her father dies suddenly on the mill floor, Norma is thrown deeper into the struggle, risking her job, relationships, and community standing to confront the bosses and organise her often-reluctant coworkers.

Directed by Martin Ritt, who was blacklisted himself during the Red Scare, this Oscar-winning film is based on the real story of Crystal Lee Sutton, who was one of three generations of her family to work at J.P. Stevens & Company mills in Burlington, North Carolina, and went on to become a celebrated ACTWU organizer. Often emotionally raw and unvarnished, Norma Rae’s struggle to build solidarity at the plant is both personal and political as she navigates the intersections of race, class, and gender, and bravely stands up for what she believes is right. The film culminates with the union election, delivering one of the most iconic and electrifying scenes of 1970s American working-class cinema.

Wednesday March 25th – Doors: 6:45pm
Eyesore Cinema, 1176 Bloor St W, Toronto
Free/PWYC