475 Park Avenue South, 6th Floor, New York, NY, 10016
Monday - Friday
11:00am - 5:00pm

Est. 1961.
"The coolest film organization in the world." —John Waters
The Washing Society by Lizzie Olesker & Lynne Sachs (2018) trt. 44 minutes
Filmmaker Lynne Sachs and Playwright Lizzie Olesker bring us into New York City's laundromats and the experiences of the people who work there. Turning a lens onto the intimate labor of doing laundry in the city's changing neighborhoods, The Washing Society focuses on working lives at the intersection of gender, immigration, and history. Interweaving documentary and narrative elements into a visual space between the observed and the re-enacted, the film creates a dream-like yet hyper-real portrayl of laundry workers, past and present.
"An exercise in high concept cinema... revealing the stains on an American Dream that seems to scrub away every last trace of its own identity." -- Otra Cines Europa
"This is a slice of life, a celebration of humanity from the historic Atlanta washerwomen (inspired by Tera Hunter's To Joy My Freedom) to the New York City workers of today in swirling brilliant color -- color that comes from the workers and the mountains of laundry they deal with every day -- underwear, socks, sheets, shirts. One has to see it to believe it." -- Kennebec Journal
A film by Lizzie Olesker and Lynne Sachs, featuring Jasmine Holloway, Veraalba Santa, Ching Valdes-Aran. Music by Stephen Vitiello, Cinematography by Sean Hanler, Editing by Amanda Katz. With support from Brooklyn Arts Council, Puffin Foundation, NYSCA.
The Film-Makers’ Cooperative (a.k.a. New American Cinema Group) is the largest archive and distributor of independent and avant-garde films in the world. Established in 1961 by a group of 22 path-breaking moving image artists (including Andy Warhol, Jonas Mekas, Shirley Clarke, and Stan Brakhage), the Coop has more than 5,000 films, videotapes, and DVDs in its collection.
475 Park Avenue South, 6th Floor, New York, NY, 10016
Monday - Friday
11:00am - 5:00pm