28m; U.S.
Director: Greg Boozell
Synopsis: Industrial workers caught up in globalization.
Author Archives: Metro Council
The Invitation (1973)
100m
Director: Claude Goretta
Synopsis (IMDB): “After the death of his mother, middle-aged insurance employee inherits her small cottage surrounded by a garden. Selling the cottage which is situated on unexploited ground near the center of a big city makes him a rich man and he buys a big house in the countryside. He takes some time off and decides to throw a big garden party at the house and invite all his colleagues from the office. Aided by alcohol, the guests gradually lose all their inhibitions and reveal personality traits and frustrations that they normally keep hidden.”
Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers (2006)
75m; U.S.
Director: Robert Greenwald
Synopsis (IMDB): Documentary portraying the actions of U.S. corporate contractors in the U.S.-Iraq war. Interviews with employees and former employees of such companies as Halliburton, CACI, and KBR suggest that government cronyism is behind apparent “sweetheart” deals that give such contractors enormous freedom to profit from supplying support and material to American troops while providing little oversight. Survivors of employees who were killed discuss the claim that the companies cared more for profit than for the welfare of their own workers, and soldiers indicate that the quality of services provided is sub-standard and severely in contradiction to the comparatively huge profits being generated. Also depicted are the unsuccessful attempts by the filmmakers to get company spokesmen to respond to the charges made by the interviewees.
Iron Ladies (2000)
30m; U.S.
Director: Kennedy Wheatley
Synopsis (Filmmakers Library): The Los Angeles Ironworkers union has 3,000 men and eight women. The apprenticeship program is rigorous; only 30% make it through the three-year training. In this documentary, veteran women ironworkers tell stories of surviving as the only female working on a construction site.
Iron Maze (1991)
104m; U.S.
Director: Hiroaki Yoshida
Cast: Jeff Fahey, Bridget Fonda and Hiroaki Murakami
Synopsis (IMDB): In Corinth, a dying town 15 miles from Pittsburg: One evening, a Japanese businessman, who wanted to tear down the closed iron mills to build an amusement park, is found half dead in his mill. Bellboy Barry admits to have done it – in self defense. Chief Ruhle interrogates him and Sugito’s young wife and business partners, but it takes a while, until he gets through the maze of apparently contradictory statements.
Ironeaters
85m; Bangladesh
Director: Shaheen Dill-Riaz
Synopsis: The Ironeaters is a beautiful film about the workers in the ship dismantling industry. This industry, which now employs three million workers has replaced the jute textile industry which was destroyed by the IMF and World Bank in order to eliminate competition to the international chemical companies. The workers in the Ironeaters face a brutal exploitation at 70 cents a day, and deadly health and safety conditions, which destroy their bodies and their lives. This non-union industry, with contractors pushing the workers to get the job done regardless of the costs, and they are deadly as they disfigure many of the workers. The systemic poverty used by the contractors drives these workers to desperation. This is the first film to show the workers in this industry and the work they do as “the rope carriers go home without a penny of wages.”
Contact: info@lemmefilm.de
Home Safe Hamilton (2010)
86m; Canada
Director: Laura Sky
Synopsis: Examines the threat of homelessness facing steelworker families, newcomers, youth and aboriginal families.
Home Safe Toronto (2009)
96m; Canada
Director: Laura Sky
Synopsis: Examines the threat and reality of homelessness facing the working poor, in the context of economic and job insecurity that has eroded the manufacturing sector.
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