International Film Festival To Stream “Sorry We Missed You”
Carnegie Mellon Festival presents a special virtual screening and Pittsburgh premiere of new movie
"Sorry We Missed You," by acclaimed director Ken Loach, is a stunning drama about work in the lower reaches of the gig economy and its effects on family ties. Focused on a delivery driver, a home care nurse and their two children, it raises questions made ever more urgent by the COVID-19 crisis about essential workers and the challenges they face.
Thanks to the Carnegie Mellon International Film Festival, audiences will be able to stream the film for a limited time, beginning on Saturday May 16, and will have the chance to participate in a live online discussion starting at 9 p.m. on May 23.
Tickets will be on sale via the festival's website from May 16 to May 23 and, for the $12 screening fee, will provide access to the film for five days from the date of purchase. Half of the money paid for tickets will go to festival which, in turn, will donate half of its proceeds to the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank.
This year's festival, focusing on "Faces of Home," was meant to begin in mid-March and to feature "Sorry We Missed You" on the opening night. The pandemic put those plans on hold but the organizers have created an inventive opportunity for anyone who would like to simulate the opening-night experience. It’s called "Almost Like the Real Thing" and will take place on the evening of May 23.
People who choose this option can start around 6:45 p.m. by watching opening remarks on the festival's website from Jolanta Lion, the festival's director and assistant director of CMU's Humanities Center in the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences, and from Ken Loach, the director of the film. Then, having purchased a ticket, they can watch the movie itself. And finally, just before 9 p.m., they can join a free live discussion on Zoom facilitated by Roger Rouse, a long-time scholar of labor and family in contemporary capitalism, with input from Lisa Frank, executive vice president for strategic campaigns at SEIU Healthcare PA. Access to the discussion will not be restricted to people who participate in this simulation. However, it will require advance registration and places will be limited.
"Whether you join us on the 23rd or not, please don’t miss the story Loach is telling," said Lion. "I can’t imagine a more important film for the times we live in."
The special screening of "Sorry We Missed You" is sponsored by CMU's Department of English, Center for the Arts in Society and Center for Student Diversity and Inclusion; and WESA and WYEP.