CINEMA REBORN at The Randwick Ritz Cinema 12.30 Saturday 30th April 2020

“For a short time in the 1950s, unions told their own stories on film, leaving a richer idea of Sydney” – Geraldine O’Brien Sydney Morning Herald

On Saturday 30th April 2020 at 12.30 pm three documentaries made by the Waterside Workers’ Federation Film Unit will be screened at the Randwick Ritz Cinema.

Wharfies Keith Gow and Jock Levy were both members of Sydney’s New Theatre along with Norma Disher. In 1953 at the height of the Cold War they formed the Waterside Workers Federation Film Unit to counter what the union saw as misinformation and anti-worker propaganda in the mainstream press.

The films they made included a campaign for a pension for wharfie veterans, the 1954 waterfront strike, workers’ rights, housing shortages and health and safety. Using a customized Kombi van with rear projection as both a production vehicle and for distribution/exhibition, they showed their films at work sites, union and community halls and clubs, private homes and in the streets.

The documentaries will include their most famous film The Hungry Miles 1954 (25 minutes)

Using dramatic recreations of the 1930s Depression along with observational footage from the 1950s, The Hungry Miles chronicles the historical experiences and industrial struggles of Sydney waterside workers under the leadership of a powerful union. Cinematic and often poetic, the film offers an eloquent response to the demonising of workers and their unions common to the mainstream press in the Cold War years. 

99-year-old Norma Disher, the only surviving member of the group will introduce the films and do a Q and A at the end of the screening. 

Contact the Ritz Cinema on (02) 8324 2500 for more details and to purchase tickets or got to their website https://www.ritzcinemas.com.au/