Join NIBS for our last event of the year, an exclusive screening of the STRIKEBOUND (1984) with a Q&A with the director Richard Lowenstein. Come watch this fundamental film capturing the continuous importance of worker struggle against bosses and of militant unions. The Q&A will be directed by NIBS volunteers Jmaes and Digby, who write for an independent film newsletter, KinoTopia.

Co-hosted by the SEARCH Foundation.

About the movie:

Strikebound is based on real events in Gippsland, Victoria in 1937, where Wattie Doig (Chris Haywood) is employed at the Sunbeam coal mine and his wife, Agnes (Carol Burns), is a member of the Salvation Army. Angered by poor pay and dangerous conditions, the miners present demands to company manager Birch (David Kendall). Birch refuses to negotiate, prompting the miners to strike. With union organisers Idris Williams (Hugh Keays-Byrne) and Charlie Nelson (Rob Steele) coordinating efforts, Wattie emerges as a spokesperson and Agnes forms a Women’s Auxiliary to support the men. Scab labour hired by the company eventually join the strike, and shots are fired at Agnes and Wattie. Directed by Richard Lowenstein and based on the work of Wendy Lowenstein, the film got several AFI Award nominations and won in the Best Achievement in Production Design category.

About NIBS:

The New International Book Shop is a volunteer run, not-for-profit book shop and community space based on Wurundjeri Woiwurrung Country. We vow to maintain an open space for anyone interested in leftist politics to come and hang out with likeminded people. We sell books we think the left in Naarm want to read and run free events so that there is no pay barrier to learning about the horrors and capitalism and imagining new worlds. Please consider donating to help us keep the space alive!

Accessibility note:

NIBS is only accessible by a flight of stairs into the basement of Trades Hall.