Morristown:
in the air and sun

"Brings the complex issue of globalization down to its human level -- where workers on both sides of the border, men and women, struggle to survive. In the film, the workers speak from the heart, whether in
Spanish or English, and while there is poignancy in their stories, there is also inspiration as they challenge corporate power  in cross-cultural solidarity."
- Howard Zinn, author of A People's History of the United States

"exceptional... a great glimpse of the transformation of east Tennessee."
- Larry Cohen, President of the Communication Workers of America (CWA)

"very compelling...can be used to move a badly needed discussion." 
- Bill Fletcher, former President TransAfrica Forum, Visiting Professor Brooklyn College - CUNY

"No film captures the contradictions, ironies, and lived experience of globalization better than Morristown.  Anne Lewis's film moves skillfully back and forth between a deindustrialized U.S. South and an industrialized Mexican border zone that promises jobs with desperately low wages, few rights, and abysmal conditions.  The message is clear: globalization has not been particularly good for the working-class on either side of the border.  Throughout their difficult journey, the working-class protagonists of Morristown are insightful, inspirational, and ready to fight.  A brilliant film that all "Americans" should watch." 
- Steve Striffler, University of Arkansas

"Through a powerful portait of one community in Tennessee, this movie connects the dots between neoliberal economic policies, job loss, and the surge in Mexican immigration to the United States.  As white, Black, and Mexican residents of Morristown tell their stories of work and struggle, the viewer comes face to face with the impact of globalization on the local level.  At the same time that it recognizes the ways that workers from different countries have been positioned as competitors, the film offers a moving vision of the ties that bind them together." 
- Jennifer Gordon, Fordham University School of Law, founder "the Workplace Project"

"Just wanted to thank you again for making such an incredible film. About 20 people stayed for discussion afterwards, including Romeo Ramirez from the Coalition of Imokolee Workers who was in town to promote the McDonald's campaign. Here are some of the comments folks made during the discussion: the film....
- showed how workers understand globalization/ that workers CAN understand globalization
- did a great job of exposing the racist and otherwise messed up attitudes of policy makers and politiicians
- made the case convincingly that US and Mexican workers are on the same side
- showed the excitement of organizing
- great job of portraying the personal stories-- how globalization impacts real people
- hopeful film, yet not naive
- showed how 'new world order' is destroying the livelihood of people on both sides of the border"
- Deborah Rosenstein, Program Coordinator, Labor Education Service, University of Minnesota

I would be flattered to be quoted!  It seems no one ever quotes a wage slave.  Morristown is my hometown and my mother's hometown as well. The process of that city's changes started when Magnavox (now Phillips) took many jobs south to Mexico in 1982.  I remember because Magnavox screwed my parents out of their pensions the same year I graduated from Morristown-Hamblen High School West.  My college fund went for their survival – being out of work 50-somethings. Thanks once more for exposing the greed that changed everything in my life.
- Mitchell Greene, Knoxville, Tennessee

"the single best, most lucid film I have ever seen about immigration in the context of the global economy."  - Kathyrn Sharpe, immigrant rights activist, Edina, MN.

"a masterpiece on solidarity."
- Ruth Needleman, Coordinator Swingshift College, Professor, Indiana University Northwest

At a rough-cut screening, we were told, “I liked A Day without Mexicans, but it misses the fact that there are non-immigrant workers who do hard and dirty work and worry about the future. You need to get the film in front of folks who sitting ducks for anti-immigrant groups.”

At a rough-cut screening In Mexico, a migrant worker asked to buy a copy for his mother to show her what his life was like.

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