DocuWest - Ludlow: Greek Americans in the Colorado Coal War
The compelling story of the Colorado Coal War of 1913-14, a class war between miners, led by the United Mine Workers of America, and mine-owners led by Rockefeller, that started as a peaceful strike in 1913, but ended with an armed uprising of miners after the horrific Ludlow Massacre in April 1914.
Interview with Researcher Frosso Tsouka
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
I wanted to work on a documentary about Ludlow for a long time. It is a fascinating story of how the extreme greed of powerful mine owners and the extreme exploitation of their immigrant workers, led to a violent confrontation with unexpected results. The historian Howard Zinn has said that if Hollywood producers had any sense they would have made a great movie of Ludlow.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
To see a compelling story with great archival footage and music, to root for the good guys, to be reminded that this country was built by immigrants, to see parallels to what is happening around you today.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
Many important universal themes are part of this story, the greed and injustice of the powerful; the need to unite with others to achieve justice, equality, and human dignity; the experience of the immigrant in a new multi-cultural environment; the role of women as supporters and as leaders in social conflict;
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
As we interviewed descendants of the Greek miners, we learned more about the special role that the Greek strikers played in the uprising after the Ludlow Massacre, and we were able to go in greater depth in the period of the Ten Day War, as the armed uprising after the Massacre was called.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
The film opened at the Thessaloniki International DocFest in Greece, in March 2016, and received the “Human Values Award” for best historical documentary. It has also received best editing and best feature documentary in other festivals in Greece, and in NYC this May it received the Special Jury Award at the New York Labor Film Festival. It has screened all over Greece and was picked up by Greek Public TV. In the US, we have very good feedback when people see the film, but it is more difficult to attract large numbers of people to screenings.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
What has surprised all of us is the intense interest of the public in Greece for this story.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
More exposure and possibly some advice on how to promote the film in the US.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
As with any small budget production, there is not enough money for advertising and promotion. That is the main problem we face. I think what we need most is professional marketing support and guidance and I would welcome any advice on how to achieve that on a very small budget.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
I would like to continue to have the impact and reception it has had until now. It has been received very well by audiences wherever it has screened. The story appeals on many different levels to different groups of people.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
Can we learn anything from history or we are condemned to repeat the same mistakes?
One of the effects of the exposure of the greed of the powerful mine owners in Ludlow was that unions gained greater acceptance in public opinion. With the spread of unionization, income inequality diminished, and the well paid unionized industrial worker moved to the status of a “blue collar middle class” because he could afford a house, a car, and college education for his kids. In today’s economy, the income inequality index has shot up to the levels of 1914, and the blue collar middle class has disappeared. Industrial jobs have been replaced by service jobs, and unionized labor with low paid, uninsured, non-union labor. How long can the 1% survive without any consideration for the needs of the rest of our society, our world, our planet?
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
We are developing a project for a documentary on the Fur Industry in NYC, an industry dominated by immigrants (mainly Eastern European Jews and Greeks) because of its low-capital and intensive labor requirements and characterized by high degree of organization both on the side of the workshop owners and of the fur workers. It was a vibrant industry, where Eastern European Jews and Greeks interacted in positive and negative ways for many years, a small world that has all but disappeared from New York as the manufacturing centers have moved outside the U.S.
I feel the need to record its history so that it is not forgotten.
Interview: September 2017
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We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series and music video. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
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Director: Leonidas Vardaros
Assistant director/Editor: Xenofon Vardaros
Researcher: Frosso Tsouka
Cinematographer: Prokopis Dafnos
Sound/Mixing: Andreas Gkovas
Produced by:
“Apostolis Berdebes” Non Profit Company (F. Tsouka / L. Gousiou / S. Plakas)
“Without justice, there will be no peace” -John Lawson
Ludlow, April 1914
The compelling story of the Colorado Coal War of 1913-14, a class war between miners, led by the United Mine Workers of America, and mine-owners led by Rockefeller, that started as a peaceful strike in 1913, but ended with an armed uprising of miners after the horrific Ludlow Massacre in April 1914.
Synopsis
The Colorado Coal War of 1913-14, is the deadliest confrontation in US labor history, a class war between miners led by the United Mine Workers of America, and mine-owners led by Rockefeller. It is a compelling page of history that laid the groundwork for contemporary labor laws and rights, not only in the US but in the entire industrialized world.
In 1903, after a big strike of miners in Southern Colorado, the coal companies decided to replace their English speaking work force with immigrants from 22 countries of Southeastern Europe, brought in unknowingly as scabs. Ten years later, the inhuman living and working conditions and the efforts of bilingual union organizers, had turned the scabs into stalwart union members, who endured a long and violent strike and in the end took up arms to defend their lives after the bloodbath of the Ludlow Massacre.
An almost forgotten story comes alive in this award winning documentary, that for the first time ever uncovers and documents the unexpected contribution of Greek immigrants to the armed confrontation.