While the Carnegie Mellon International Film Festival has been postponed until November, you can still catch a glimpse of what its theme, "Faces of Home" has to offer. Now through Sat., May 23, CMU IFF is hosting virtual screenings of Sorry We Missed You, the film that was originally supposed to screen on opening night of the festival.
CMU IFF aims to simulate the experience of an opening night screening with their virtual event, Almost Like the Real Thing, on May 23. To participate, viewers can purchase a virtual ticket for Sorry We Missed You, ($12 for five-day access to the film) and at 9 p.m., join a Zoom discussion with Roger Rouse, a University of Pittsburgh professor of contemporary capitalism, and Lisa Frank of SEIU Healthcare PA.
Sorry We Missed You, a British drama directed by Ken Loach, follows a working-class family still recovering 10 years after the mortgage crisis. To make ends meet, Ricky works as a delivery driver who gets his wages docked if he doesn't deliver fast enough, while Abbie works as a home-care nurse. The film was obviously made pre-pandemic, but its examinations of the current state of labor and the dangers of the gig economy are as relevant as ever.
“I can’t imagine a more important film for the times we live in," says festival director Jolanta Lion.
Half of the ticket sale proceeds will go towards the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. The CMU IFF is now scheduled for Nov. 5-22.
Carnegie Mellon International Film Festival goes virtual with Sorry We Missed You, an unwittingly prescient film about the gig economy
