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By Steve Gilliam, University Relations
Contact: (336) 334-5619
Matt Barr
Posted 1-16-09
GREENSBORO, NC — A free, public screening of the documentary film, "With These Hands: The Story of an American Furniture Factory," will be held at 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 30, in the Elliott University Center Auditorium at UNCG.
Produced by Matt Barr, an associate professor of broadcasting & cinema at UNCG, the film looks at Hooker Furniture's shutdown of its last manufacturing plant in Martinsville, Va., in 2007. Dr. Charles Bolton, head of the Department of History, will introduce the film and a reception will follow.
Barr’s 79-minute documentary tells the story of the factory through the words of 10 employees. He also interviewed others to put the closing into historical and economic context. The plant, which opened in 1924, produced case goods for Hooker until competition from imports led the company to source all of its wood furniture overseas.
In portraying what the company meant to its employees and how the closing affected them, "With These Hands" follows the last case pieces running through the production line. It shows the aftermath as state employment officials discuss future "options" with the plant's workers, whose faces convey their bewilderment at the plant closing.
Barr said his film has been accepted for April's RiverRun International Film Festival in Winston-Salem, and was submitted to the Full Frame International Film Festival in Durham.
A trailer for the movie is available on YouTube.