OCPL Labor Film Fest

September 02, 2025
11:00am - 8:00pm

Labor Film Fest

In partnership with the WALS Foundation, and in keeping with the tone set by the Reuther-Pollack Labor History Symposium , the Ohio County Public Library, which will host its first ever free labor film festival featuring the following titles:

Full Schedule

11:00 AM to 12:34 PM - Salt of the Earth (1954) 1 hour 34 minutes. Directed by Herbert J. Biberman, who was blacklisted as a communist, the film was one of the first made outside of the Hollywood studio system. It was also one of the first feminist films. Centered on the 1951 strike against the Empire Zinc Company in New Mexico, Salt of the Earth employed local miners and their families as actors. It was suppressed due to Red Scare politics. In 1992, it made the Library of Congress’s National Film Registry of significant U.S. films.

1:00 PM to 2:50 PM - Norma Rae (1979) 1 hour 50 minutes. Directed by Martin Ritt. Based on the true story of Crystal Lee Sutton. Stars Sally Field and Beau Bridges. The film follows Norma Rae Webster, a North Carolina woman who, after she and her co-workers’ health are compromised due to poor working conditions, becomes involved in trade union activities at the textile factory where she works.

3:00 PM - 5:12 PM - Matewan (1987) 2 hours 12 minutes. Written and directed by John Sayles, and starring Chris Cooper, James Earl Jones, Mary McDonnell and Will Oldham, with David Strathairn, Kevin Tighe and Gordon Clapp. The film dramatizes the events of the Battle of Matewan, a coal miners' strike in 1920 in a small town in the hills of West Virginia.

6:00 PM to 8:00 PM Pride (2014) 2 hours. Written by Stephen Beresford and directed by Matthew Warchus. Based on a true story, it depicts a group of lesbian and gay activists who raised money to help families affected by the British miners’ strike in 1984, at the outset of what would become the Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners campaign

Visit when you want throughout the day and stay for as many films as you wish. Free popcorn and beverages will be served!

For more information on Library programs, call 304-232-0244, send an email , or visit the OCPL Facebook page.

Lunch With Books Livestream starts at noon on Facebook and YouTube.

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"Lunch With Books" is the library’s flagship program for adult patrons. These lunchtime programs feature authors, poets, musicians, historians, and more every Tuesday at noon. Bring lunch (to the Library Auditorium or your computer), feed your brain!