Daily Worker

Documentary Short, 10 min
2025

In a dark preservation lab in New York City, international student Ting Su works to digitize archival film negatives from the Daily Worker, the communist newspaper begun in Chicago in 1924. What starts as a fascinating time capsule soon becomes a deeply personal study of the history of labor, the meaning of work, and the perilous status of seeking a visa.

Directed, Produced, Edited, Sound Design & Mixing by TING SU
Co-Produced, Color-grading by EDDIE YUKUN LONG
Cinematography by CARSON PETREE, KEXIN ZHANG

21st Big Sky Documentary Film Festival - Best Mini Doc Competition
21st True/False Film Festival
27th Flickers' Rhode Island International Film Festival
73rd Melbourne International Film Festival
23rd Tallgrass Film Festival
34th Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival

“Piecing together personal and historical memories across borders and generations, this essay film documents the digitization project of the film negatives from the "Daily Worker" newspaper, which covered an important era of New York’s labor movements. Repeating the same routines every single day at my job, I find solace. Each negative I processed witnesses the faces of yesterday; they lead me into the struggles and dreams of the past and the present. We all work to build our lives, and after decades, we still strive for the same rights. I find this universal quest for finding a place in the world beautiful, under such uncertain times.”
- Ting

Tíng Sù