The Film | Bloody Thursday

SYNOPSIS

Bloody Thursday is a one hour PBS documentary that tells the story of how West Coast dockworkers overcame huge obstacles to form their union, the ILWU. Set in the midst of the Great Depression, the film shows how longshoremen were fighting for their rights at the same time that most of their families weren’t sure where their next meal would come from. The odds were stacked against the longshoremen. Mainstream newspaper publishers, fearful of unionization efforts at their own papers, launched brutal attacks against the dockworkers and drove public sympathy against them. In addition, politicians and the police openly used their resources to side with the shipping companies against the striking dockworkers. Bloody Thursday tells the human stories of the dockworkers who stood up against these odds and changed the course of American labor history.

Bloody Thursday includes a range of filmed interviews with union officials and historians who provide fascinating insight to the dockworker’s struggles during the Depression. These interviews are visually supported through an extensive archive of photographs, film, and old newspapers. Dramatic accounts of the longshoremen, labor activists, and politicians who were participants in the tumultuous events of the historic West Coast strike of 1934 are brought to life by actors who read their accounts verbatim and bring a new level of emotional impact to the story through their performances.

FILMMAKERS

Bloody Thursday was directed by Jared Cotton and Christopher Burke of Redtail Media, writen and produced by Jack Baric, and executive produced by Brenda Brkusic of PBS Station KOCE.