Long week on the shop floor? Why not relax this Saturday with some free films at the Canadian Labour International Film Festival.

“Labour folks work incredibly hard … so it’s important to have different fun and engaging cultural events throughout the year,” says Carrie Campbell, a bookstore sales worker and vice-president of special events for the Halifax-Dartmouth & District Labour Council, which is hosting the event at the Bus Stop Theatre.

The festival, put on by labour councils across Canada, features contemporary films on labour issues. The centrepiece of this year’s festival is We Are Wisconsin, a feature-length look at last year’s mass protests against Wisconsin governor Scott Walker’s anti-union bill, where thousands of workers demonstrated for weeks and occupied the state capitol building.

“I almost cried over the trailer,” says Campbell.

In light of Hollywood blockbusters with transparent anti-union messages like Won’t Back Down, the festival is “a way to socialize with other members and get history of the labour movement at the same time,” says Campbell. 

The event is free as a way to keep it accessible for working-class people, she adds.

Other films being presented include: Under the Red Star, a political drama about the Finnish immigrants who built Canada’s largest labour hall in the early 1900s; and We Just Come to Work Here, a short documentary on Harry Stamper, a longshoreman and folksinger who wrote many famous labour-related songs including “We Just Come to Work Here (We Don’t Come to Die).”

“I think any film that shows the struggles that workers have gone through before us can be really inspiring and help us with our fight, because it’s definitely never-ending,” says Campbell. 

The Canadian Labour international Film Festival – Halifax takes place this Saturday, Nov.17, at 7 p.m. at the Bus Stop Theatre, 2203 Gottingen St. Admission is free and refreshments will be provided. There will be a cash bar on site.

Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/events/243279325800444/