Set against the backdrop of the long history of the Texas prison system – from Juneteenth to COVID – Dark Cell Harlem Farm explores the death by suffocation of eight Black men at a prison plantation in 1913. Combining readings of primary source materials and personal reflections by formerly incarcerated individuals, footage of the prison landscapes where the incident took place, and a series of graphical interventions and excavations, the film makes an urgent and uncompromising argument for the impossibility of prison reform and the necessity of prison abolition.

This screening is co-sponsored by the DC Labor FilmFest (Washington, D.C.), the Rochester Labor Film Series (NY), the Socialist Labor Party Hall in Barre (VT), Reel Work Labor Film Festival (CA), and the Labor Heritage Foundation (D.C.) as part of the Global Labor FilmFest Network (GLFF) 2023 Online Screening Series.