Made in L.A. Community Screenings
During the week of December 10th – International Human Rights Day and the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights – we are encouraging sweatfree community campaigns around the country to hold houseparties or community events to educate about sweatshops in the context of human rights and build momentum for your sweatfree campaign. Also, because of the holiday season, it's also an especially great time for a fundraiser!
One idea for a December 10th event is to hold a screening of the documentary Made in L.A. The film just won an Emmy, and tells the remarkable story of three Latina immigrants working in Los Angeles garment sweatshops as they embark on a three-year odyssey to win basic labor protections from trendy clothing retailer Forever 21.
An opportunity to publicize your sweatfree campaign and build coalitions in your community. A Made in L.A. screening event provides a special opportunity to highlight the progress of your sweatfree campaign and to raise awareness about global sweatshop issues. But even more, because the film looks at so many other issues (immigrants rights, women’s empowerment, labor rights and consumer awareness), it provides an opportunity to reach out to new partners in your community, for example organizations serving immigrant workers in restaurants, hotels, or homecare facilities in your area. A joint event will enable you and your constituency to meet local workers and to give them an opportunity to share their stories with your group and with the community-at-large.
It's free and easy & there are excellent resources to plan and publicize your event. The filmmakers of Made in L.A. have developed a 12-page event planning toolkit that makes it easy to plan, explains how to use the event to raise awareness and build coalitions, and outlines how to reach out to local media and to other community groups. And they've created customizable template flyers and sample press releases that make it easy to get the word out. Finally they've created an innovative screening kit that includes full-size movie posters, postcards and DVDs, and that "pays for itself" because it includes enough extra DVDs to sell at the screening to cover the cost of the kit. So the materials for the event will ultimately be free.
Benefits Sweatfree Communities. A
portion of the proceeds will be donated to your local group or to SweatFree Communities and
any remaining proceeds help the filmmakers continue their outreach and
education efforts. Thus, the kits help support both sustainable
social-issue filmmaking and sustainable grassroots organizing.
Everything you need is available here!
Be part of a national set of screenings. The
filmmakers are reaching out to other organizations to do additional
screenings the same week, and we hope you'll join us in taking this
important moment to reach out to your community about your campaign and
to build or strengthen coalitions in your community!
The Community Screening Kit
is available any time -- so consider this great opportunity to build
new connections in your community and spread the word about your
campaign, even if you're not able to an organize an event for
International Human Rights Day.
Please let us know about your plans for International Human Rights Day!
"A rousing true story of solidarity, perseverance and triumph"
-Variety
"The Midwest Coalition for Human Rights was able to hold movie screenings in three states - Iowa, Nebraska, and Minnesota - where MCHR has member organizations working on our Workers' Rights Project...These community screenings provided us with a great opportunity to vocalize our own concerns on labor practices and immigrant rights in the U.S... The audience was captivated by the film, and students became very interested in learning more about our workers' rights and immigration projects."
– Midwest Coalition for Human Rights
"Awesome!!! People were blown away by the film. People were moved by the personal aspect of the story, and many were moved to action and awareness of sweatshops (especially in our "backyard"). The event went above and beyond my expectations."
- Jackie Lindeman, USC Social Work Alumni Association
