05/20/2026
When Boots Riley looks back at his debut feature, ‘Sorry to Bother You,’ it’s not the rave reviews, near-perfect Rotten Tomatoes score or $18 million in box office revenue that stand out. It’s the messages he got from labor organizers. Dozens wrote to tell him they swayed their colleagues to form unions or authorize strikes after showing them his film, about a call center worker who discovers a shady corporate conspiracy to turn people into literal workhorses.
With his stylish new satire ‘I Love Boosters,’ the Oakland director places a bet that art can fuel a mass labor movement. “It starts with understanding that a situation in which people have solidarity is helping your own personal interests as well. And from that grows a different kind of consciousness,” Riley tells KQED.
Read our interview before ‘I Love Boosters’ opens in theaters nationwide this weekend. ⬇️
