‘Union,’ Award-Winning Doc About Extraordinary Bid To Organize Amazon Workers, Announces October Theatrical Release

deadline.com:

EXCLUSIVE: The award-winning documentary Union, about the first successful unionization drive at an Amazon warehouse, has been making the rounds of film festivals – it just held its U.K.

premiere at Sheffield DocFest, and on Saturday it plays at DC/DOX in the nation’s capital. In a matter of months, the film will reach its widest audience yet, through a self-distribution plan announced today.

Level Ground Productions has set an October 18 release date in theaters for the film directed by Brett Story and Stephen Maing. “Recognizing the difficulties faced by political documentaries in distribution of late,” a release notes, “but also the enthusiastic and engaged potential audiences that are inspired by the Amazon Labor Union movement, producers Story, Maing, Samantha Curley, Mars Verrone, and Martin DiCicco have worked with distribution expert Michael Tuckman to self distribute the film theatrically.” The documentary centers on a long-shot bid by Chris Smalls and other employees at an Amazon facility on Staten Island, New York to form a union.

The Jeff Bezos-founded company fiercely opposed the effort. “On April 1, 2022 a group of ordinary workers (the ALU) in Staten Island made history when they did what everyone thought was impossible: they successfully won their election to become the very first unionized Amazon workplace in America, with no prior organizing experience, no institutional backing, and a total budget of $120,000 raised on GoFundMe,” states a description of the film. “Union focuses on the journey of the worker-turned-organizers, described by ALU President Christian Smalls as the ‘N.W.A.