Both a celebration of hard won union victories and a cautionary tale about what is impossible without collective action.
MAKE A CIRCLE follows a group of child care providers who are determined to change how our society values the education of its youngest citizens. With a mix of humor, outrage, and passion, Make A Circle captures the unfolding stories of Patricia, a leader of a new child care workers union, as she fights on behalf of a largely immigrant workforce; Charlotte, another union member who tirelessly lifts up the low-income families in her care; and Anne, the director of a large preschool, who finds novel ways to value and support her teachers when jobs at Starbucks are offering higher pay.
Within their stories are interludes that offer a cinematic window into the unique, imaginative world of the young children in their care. The film culminates as thousands of child care union members march on their state capitol demanding better working conditions, just as their contract is set to expire.
Weaving together the magic they create in the classroom, the struggles they endure at home, and their tireless activism for their profession, Make A Circle is a moving portrait of life as an early childhood educator and a promising blueprint for fixing our broken child care system. (1 hr 29m, 2024, Directors: Jen Bradwell and Todd Boekelheide) (Trailer) + Director Q&A
Short to precede:
STORIES FROM THE HEART OF PUBLIC EDUCATION: NICOLE - K-12 support staff are at the very heart of the public education system, and of the community at large. Yet, they are also some of the most overlooked essential workers. Nicole, a public school cafeteria employee in Minneapolis, shares about her frontline job critical to the well-being of her community, why being part of a union matters, and why she thinks that it’s time for workers across industries to unite and rise up to demand a better world. (8m, 2024, Director: Thien Dinh)