Union
Directed by
Produced by
  • Samantha Curley
  • Mars Verrone
CinematographyMartin DiCicco
Edited by
Music byRobert Aiki Aubrey Lowe
Production
companies
Release date
  • January 21, 2024 (2024-01-21) (Sundance)
Running time
100 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Union is a 2024 American documentary film, directed by Brett Story and Stephen Maing. It follows the Amazon Labor Union, in Staten Island, as they take on Amazon to unionize.

It had its world premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival on January 21, 2024.

Premise

The film follows former and current workers of Amazon, as they form the Amazon Labor Union, and take on the company to form a union.

Production

In 2020, Samantha Curley and Mars Verrone connected with Chris Smalls about making a documentary revolving around forming the Amazon Labor Union. Curley and Verrone later brought on Brett Story to direct the film, with five months into production, Story invited Stephen T. Maing to co-direct the project.[2] The documentary takes a verité style approach, with footage from Amazon Labor Union Zoom meetings as well as on the ground organizing efforts outside of JFK8.[1]

Story and Maing showed the film to participants in the project, in order to vet anything that could potentially be high-risk or fireable, with all of them responding well to the film.[3] An interview with a union-buster was filmed but cut during post-production, in order to keep the film focused on the organizers.[4]

The film received grants from Catapult Film Fund, Field of Vision, International Documentary Association, Sundance Institute, NBCU Academy/NBC News Studios, Chicken & Egg Pictures and Hot Docs Canadian International Film Festival.[5][6][7][8][9][10][11]

Release

It had its world premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival on January 21, 2024.[12]

References

  1. ^ "Union". 2024 Sundance Film Festival. Retrieved December 9, 2023.
  2. ^ Keegan, Rebecca (January 20, 2024). "Amazon Labor Doc Tells David and Goliath Battle of Our Time". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved January 23, 2024.
  3. ^ Wissot, Lauren (January 21, 2024). ""The Good, Bad and Ugly of Organizing Against Amazon'": Stephen Maing and Brett Story on their Sundance-debuting Union". Filmmaker. Retrieved January 23, 2024.
  4. ^ Morfoot, Addie (January 21, 2024). "'Union' Filmmakers Talk Amazon, Labor Unions and Jeff Bezos' Possible Response to the Documentary". Variety. Retrieved January 23, 2024.
  5. ^ "Union". Catapult Film Fund. Retrieved December 9, 2023.
  6. ^ "Untitled Labor Union Documentary". Field of Vision. Retrieved December 9, 2023.
  7. ^ "Untitled Labor Union Documentary". International Documentary Association. Retrieved December 9, 2023.
  8. ^ Patten, Dominic (October 4, 2022). "Sundance Institute Unveils 35 Documentary Projects To Receive $1.4M In Grants; 2022 Marks 20th Anniversary Of Documentary Film Program". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved December 9, 2023.
  9. ^ Grobar, Matt (April 11, 2022). "NBCU Academy, NBC News Studios Set Participants For 2nd Annual Original Voices Fellowship". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved December 9, 2023.
  10. ^ "2022 Chicken & Egg Recipient: Brett Story". Chicken & Egg Pictures. Retrieved December 9, 2023.
  11. ^ Tracy, Andrew (May 5, 2022). "Hot Docs Forum names recipients of $50,000 in pitch prizes". Real Screen. Retrieved December 9, 2023.
  12. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony; Patten, Dominic (December 6, 2023). "Sundance Unveils Packed 2024 Lineup That Includes A.I., Pedro Pascal, Kristen Stewart, Satan, Devo & Steven Yeun". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved December 9, 2023.

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