Program 8: 'YAPS' - A Year In the Life of Five Young Opera Singers

Workers Unite Film Festival, Inc.

Preceded by the short 'Language Back' about retaining one's Native American heritage.

Cinema Village

Workers Unite Film Festival Season 14 (2025)

Season 14 kicks off October 17th, 2024 at NYC's Cinema Village theater (22 E 12th St) until October 23rd, then continues at other partner venues through Nov 1st. Global labor solidarity! Program listings and tickets below.

YAPs - Widespread closures threaten the very existence of live theater in America. A traditional career as an opera singer seems less and less viable. And yet: In spite of a system stacked against them, young singers continue to follow their calling, risking everything to gain entry into fiercely competitive apprenticeship programs.In Victory Hall Opera’s searing, intimate new documentary film, 5 young opera singers across America share a year of their lives with unprecedented access. What is driving their ambition? Who will “make it”? And what does success even mean to the next generation?(2025, 1 hr 21m, Director: Miriam Gordon-Stewart) + Q&amp;A with Special Guest Ria Ipa from the film

PRECEDED BY:Language Back is a short documentary about the importance of Native American Language Revitalization shot in Milwaukee, Keshena and Bjorklunden with Indigenous Nations Poets. It features snippets of conversation and lectures at Indigenous Nations Poets #LanguageBack Workshops from UW-Milwaukee and The College of Menominee Nation in 2024. This short showcases In-Na-Po workshop participants exploring poetic use of Native languages and gathering to build community in educational and outdoor settings. It features the work of poets along with time-lapse photography of LED letter panels from the Overpass Light Brigade. (2025, 7m, Director: Dusan V. Harminc) .