SF Social & Economic Justice Film Festival: Screening 1

The Mission of the San Francisco Social and Economic Justice Film Festival is to provide a platform for films made by independent filmmakers who are exploring and advocating for social and economic justice. The SEJ film festival will highlight films and videos to encourage change around the world and to promote a global culture of equality.

Screening 1 includes: Somos Esenciales/We are Essential, We Mean to Make Things Over: A History of May Day, Hands Up Knees Down, and Another World is Possible.

Purchase an all-day pass for $40 or streaming-only pass for $15 here!

Somos Esenciales/We are Essential (25 min): A new short documentary film from performing artist and producer Paul S. Flores, directed by Rafael Flores, Somos Esenciales tells the stories of Latino Essential Workers at the Mission Food Hub in San Francisco. Both immigrant and native born volunteers at the Food Hub participated in an oral history project that examines the impact on mental health and lack of adequate services due to the COVID pandemic. The film shows the resilience and self determination of the Latino community to respond to the COVID pandemic by relying on cultural practices such as food pathways, healing circles, lowriding, volunteering and arts practices to address the decline in mental health. Ultimately Somos Esenciales puts a face on who Essential Workers are in the Latino community by sharing what they have endured and also what they hope for in the future.

We Mean to Make Things Over: A History of May Day (30 min): A new half-hour documentary video exploring how May Day became a worker’s holiday all over the world except in the United States despite the fact that the events that inspired the holiday occurred here. At a time when celebrating May Day is making a comeback, the American labor movement is showing renewed militancy, and public support for labor is at a half century peak, the appearance of We Mean to Make Things Over is extremely timely.

Hands Up, Knees Down (52 min): Armed with just a cell phone and podcast mic, filmmaker Mel Andre took to the streets of DC during the George Floyd Protest to capture the historic moment and to give the protesters a voice. These are the raw interviews from the Protest.

Another World is Possible (8 min): A group of queer artists attend a gathering by and for revolutionary women on autonomous land in southern Mexico.