Film: Finally Got The News

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Date/Time
Date(s) - Tuesday, 05/01/2018
12:00 am

Location
Klinger Studios

Categories


In celebration of International Workers Day, Hamtramck Free School and Corktown Cinema present the first in what will become a monthly film series on the first Tuesday of every month. Join us after the film for a discussion with co-director Rene Lichtman and​ Ernie Johnson, Community Liaison for the City of Detroit. Seating is limited. Doors at 7pm. A film by Rene Lichtman, Stewart Bird, and Peter Gessner, (English / 55 minutes / 1970).

“FINALLY GOT THE NEWS is a forceful, unique documentary that reveals the activities of the League of Revolutionary Black Workers inside and outside the auto factories of Detroit. Through interviews with the members of the movement, footage shot in the auto plants, and footage of leafleting and picketing actions, the film documents their efforts to build an independent black labor organization that, unlike the UAW, will respond to worker’s problems, such as the assembly line speed-up and inadequate wages faced by both black and white workers in the industry.

 

 

Beginning with a historical montage, from the early days of slavery through the subsequent growth and organization of the working class, FINALLY GOT THE NEWS focuses on the crucial role played by the black worker in the American economy. Also explored is the educational ‘tracking’ system for both white and black youth, the role of African American women in the labor force, and relations between white and black workers.” – Icarus Films

Rene Lichtman is a painter, political activist and Holocaust Survivor. He was born in Paris, France in 1937. Lichtman and his mother survived WWll in hiding while his father was killed in combat against the invading Germans. Lichtman came to the United States in 1950 at age thirteen with his mother. In the late 1960s, with the beginning of the Vietnam anti-war movement, Lichtman became a founder of the anti-war film group, Newsreel Documentary Films. In 1969, Lichtman came to Detroit to make a film on the League of Revolutionary Black Workers that would later be titled “Finally Got the News”. In 1992, Lichtman helped start the Hidden Children and Child Survivors of Michigan, and was later a founding member of the World Federation of Jewish Child Survivors of the Holocaust. Lichtman holds degrees in Fine Arts, Mass Communication, and a Ph.D. in Instructional Technology from Wayne State University. Aside from the above, he works every day to destroy what he recognizes as fascism in the United States. In May 2018, a retrospective of Lichtman’s work spanning 58 years will be exhibited at the LSG Gallery in Ferndale.