Anchorage International Film Festival 2010

Day Labor is a ten minute short that follows Sammy, a hard drinking Seattle bike messenger, as he pedals his way through the rainy gray winter. After a particularly rough night Sam wakes up hung over and miserable. As Sam struggles through his morning ride into town he passes the crowds of Latino Day Laborers looking for work. In a moment of inspiration, Sam sets off a sequence of events that spirals out of control. Featuring a cast of over fifty, Day Labor addresses important contemporary social issues with humor and grace. All the actors appearing as day laborers in the film were actual Day Laborers hired on the street the day of filming. Likewise, all the bike messengers were actual messengers, though some now left unemployed by the economic decline. This cast lends the film a powerful authenticity and captures a gritty side of Seattle rarely shown in cinema. Day Labor tells a story that resonates with every urban center in the nation and beyond. A marginalized work force is made public and issues of work ethic, opportunity and disparity are presented as the common practice of outsourcing labor is taken to its illogical extreme.