Jennifer Merin

With changing laws and an increased reliance of management and production on AI, the discussion about worker solidarity and collective bargaining, and about what's at stake for union members who are walking the picket lines to preserve their jobs, Labor Day celebrations rise to a new level of relevance. According to the Cornell University Labor Action Tracker, there have been 444 official labor actions - strikes and protests - taken across the USA thus far in 2026, from January 1 to September 1.

Based on the famous author's 1919 novel, director Tina Gharavi's Virginia Woolf's Night & Day is an earnest feminist drama that centers on an intelligent young woman who's chafing at the sexism and social limitations of life in 1910 Edwardian England. As she struggles to find a life path that's not wholly controlled and defined by men, Katharine (Haley Bennett) must decide whether to prioritize intellectual or emotional fulfillment - unless there's some way she can manage to have both.

The consequences of misunderstandings and painful secrets become achingly clear in director/co-writer Tessa Blake's family drama ​​ ​I​f I Tell You. Based on the book Closed Doors​ by Lisa O'Donnell and old mostly through the eyes of 12-year-old Michael (Etienne Kellici) - who doesn't realize why his usually happy household is on the verge of falling apart one otherwise idyllic Midwestern summer - it's an earnest story about finding hope amid darkness.