Film Forum Union

Today, Film Forum workers petitioned for an election that will establish our union with UAW Local 2110. We are film lovers passionate about our work. We welcome those who support our mission to build a more just workplace!

The workers of Film Forum, demand accountability. We call on Film Forum to ensure that no future premieres programming decision will ever again prioritize the work of sexual predators. We must take a an unequivocal stance against sexual & sexist violence in the film industry.

The workers of Film Forum, theater and administrative staff, are disturbed and disappointed by Film Forum’s decision to give Roman Polanski’s 2019 film, An Officer and a Spy, its U.S. premiere and theatrical run.

This decision undermines the core values of our institution and, more urgently, betrays the trust between Film Forum’s staff and its programmers, and between Film Forum and the film-loving community it serves.

Premiering it now sets a dangerous precedent—one that gives a renewed platform, publicity, and revenue to a sexual predator—and emboldens other institutions to do the same.

An Officer and a Spy had been unanimously excluded from American screens since its festival premiere six years ago.

As workers and as film lovers, we count on the discernment of our premieres programmers to introduce work that not only reflects cultural significance, but upholds ethical responsibility.

This endorsement of Polanski’s allegorical project makes Film Forum complicit in the cultural amnesia that normalizes abuse and keeps survivors of sexual violence from being taken seriously.

Film Forum’s programming note fails to accurately address the severity of Polanski’s sexual violence, and instead shifts focus to the film’s role in “historical storytelling.”

“I am familiar with many of the workings of the apparatus of persecution shown in the film, and that has clearly inspired me.” [From the 2019 press notes for An Officer and a Spy.]

But Polanski, who fled the country in 1978 after pleading guilty to unlawful sex with a minor, grossly trivializes the Dreyfus Affair by explicitly comparing his own public battles with those of the wrongfully convicted Alfred Dreyfus with statements like:

The film presents a dramatic depiction of the Dreyfus Affair, an important nineteenth century political case uncovering institutional corruption and antisemitism in France.

Thank you @THR ✊ hollywoodreporter.com/business/busin…

Congratulations on a great first contract to ⁦@FilmForumUnion⁩ members of ⁦@Local2110UAW⁩ ⁦@flcunion⁩ ⁦@MoMA_Local2110⁩ ⁦@GMU_2110⁩ ⁦@bkmuseumunion⁩ ⁦@UAW⁩ ⁦@CentralLaborNYC⁩ ⁦@AFLCIO⁩ #unionstrong ⁦@hcpunion⁩

Film Forum union negotiated average 12% salary increases, with entry-level employees receiving the biggest increase in rates. PT floor & facilities staff will also get increases to their hourly wages. A great victory for the workers of FF.

Today in @Artforum ✊ artforum.com/news/film-foru…

Today, Film Forum Union members voted to ratify our first contract which will establish higher wages, improvements to workplace health and safety, promotional opportunities, and more!!! Thank you for your support.

Unionized staff at Film Forum have reached an agreement with management on a first contract. 🚨 Workers are currently voting to ratify the contract, until this Thursday, June 22 at 3pm. 🚨 More information to come! 🚨 Thank you for all your support. 🫶

@FilmForumNYC is a $6M/yr operation yet they currently pay as little as $15/hr for theater staff and $37K/yr for full time administrative staff???? Where is the $ going? 🤔 @filmforumunion #faircontract #filmforumunion

Happy #Mayday #InternationalWorkersDay From 2020, @MichaelHGrant on classic labor films from the National Maritime Union, digitized and freely available to stream: screenslate.com/articles/class…

Into the streets May First! Into the roaring Square! Shake the midtown towers! Shatter the downtown air! Alfred Hayes, 1934