Surprise!
An unexpected cameo from Robert Reich
Dear Friends,
Have we said thank you lately!? THANK YOU! What a joy to share The Last Class film with all of you, and to watch it sparkle on the silver screen. You are ensuring it’s playing in dozens of theaters across the country, and hearing about your experience of the film, and the community it’s fortifying, fills us with electricity and validation.
If these theatrical efforts have an epicenter of excitement, it’s Rialto Cinemas Elmwood in Berkeley, California—just a few miles from the campus where the film takes place. The theater’s director Ky Boyd, the Elmwood team, and the Berkeley viewers have welcomed us with warmth and enthusiasm. The Last Class has been playing there to sold-out shows for seven weeks — and is now back at Rialto Cinemas Sebastopol as well.
The two of us decided to announce that we would come to the Elmwood Theatre on Ashby and College Ave. for one final post-film Q&A. Every seat was taken when we strolled down to the stage to engage with the audience. Unbeknownst to the theatergoers, we’d arranged for a certain former Secretary of Labor to sneak into the theater at the end of the show. And when he raised his hand to coyly ask a question, with his unmistakably commanding voice, the crowd went wild.
What fun. Thank you all for making this ride such a blast.
That made me cry. I would have just gone bonkers if I heard that voice during Q&A. Tremendous gratitude for you, your work, your enduring optimism, your contagious hope, your tenacious determination, your candor, humor and integrity through it all.
We are trying to bring the film to our town 🙏🏻