113m; U.S.
Director: Gordon Parks, Sr.
Synopsis (WorldCat): Based on the true story of Solomon Northup, a free black man living in New York, who was kidnapped and sold into slavery.
Author Archives: Metro Council
Halfway To Hell, The Workers and Unions That Built The Golden Gate Bridge
Synopsis: Documentary about the workers who built the Golden Gate Bridge.
Hallelujah! (1928)
109m; U.S.
Director: King Vidor
Synopsis: Portrayal of rural black milieu. The film seems stereotypical now, but was originally banned in many areas for “frank” portrayal of black life.
Hammering It Out: Women in the Construction Zone (2000)
54m; U.S.
Director: Vivian Price
Synopsis: Female construction workers.
Contact: www.hammeringitout.com; Vivian Price vprice@csudh.edu/blues3@verizon.net; Women Make Movies 212-925-0606 ADDRESS: C/O Susanne Davis 2225 East Ocean Blvd Long Beach CA 90803
Hands of Harvest
Directr: Adrian Muys
Synopsis/Contact: This is Adrian Muys writing, the filmmaker you met at the AFI. Here is a short summary of Hands of Harvest and how the AFL-CIO would fit into it. Hands of Harvest chronicles the journey of a group of Mexican women who travel on work visas from the Hidalgo region to the Eastern Shore of Maryland to pick crabs in seafood plants. The film focuses on the H2-B visa program and how it has impacted the culture of both a small Maryland fishing village and a remote hamlet in Mexico. What I would like to interview someone at the AFL-CIO about it their stance on visa workers and how it has affected the American work force. Hands of Harvest is about workers, both American and Mexican, who will go to great lengths to support their families and uphold traditions and I have always taken an unbiased approach to the film in order to get as many opinions as possible about a subject that is very important at this moment in US labor history. I think having the opinion of the AFL-CIO would widen the scope of the film and bring another important point of view to the table. Please call me if you have any questions about the film: (917) 743-3714 Thanks Adrian Muys Chapel Cove Productions adrianmuys@yahoo.com
Hansel Mieth: Vagabond Photographer
Synopsis: Immigrant German photographer joins struggle for workers & human rights in US
Happy Times (2000)
102m; China
Director: Yimou Zhang
Cast: Lifan Dong, Benshan Zhao and Jie Dong
Synopsis (IMDB): Zhao is an old laid-off worker who’s dreaming of getting married. After trying unsuccessful proposals, he finally pair off with a gargantuan divorcée with two children. She, however, demands a lavish wedding and that Zhao finds a job and another place to stay for her blind step-daughter. Pretending he’s the General Manager of a non-existent posh hotel “Happy Times”, Zhao had to find ways and means of keeping both mother and stepdaughter happy.
The Harder They Come (1972)
120m; Jamaica
Director: Perry Henzell
Cast: Jimmy Cliff, Janet Bartley and Carl Bradshaw
Synopsis (IMDB): Wishing to become a successful Reggae singer, a young Jamaican man finds himself tied to corrupt record producers and drug pushers.
Harlan County U.S.A. (1976)
103m; U.S.
Director: Barbara Kopple
Cast: Norman Yarborough (Himself – Eastover Mining President); Houston Elmore (Himself – UMW organizer); Phil Spark (Himself – UMW staff); John Corcoran (Himself – Consolidated Coal President); John O’Leary (Himself – former Bureau of Mines director); Dr. Donald Rasmussen (Himself – Blackwing Clinic, WV); Dr. Hawley Wells Jr. (Himself); Tom Williams (Himself – Boyle campaigner); Chip Yablonski (Himself); Ken Yablonski (Himself); Logan Patterson (Himself – negotiator); Harry Patrick (Himself – UMW secretary-treasurer); Mike Trbovich (Himself – UMW VP); Bernie Aronson (Himself – UMW staff); Guy Farmer Himself (BCPA General Counsel)
http://www.cabincreekfilms.com/films_harlancounty.html
Synopsis: Harlan County, USA is a 1976 documentary film covering the efforts of 180 coal miners on strike against the Eastover Mining Company in Harlan County, Kentucky in 1973. It was directed by Barbara Kopple, who has long been an advocate of workers’ rights. Harlan County, U.S.A. Coal miners. The film won the 1976 Oscar for Best Documentary. Kopple and her crew spent three years filming within the mining community and 180 families’ bitter struggle to win a contract. Facing dangerous and violent anti-union gun thugs and the brutal murder of one of their own, the striking miners fearlessly face the picket line day in and day out in the hopes of securing a fare wage and a better way of life for their families. The film is a tribute to the working families of America, particularly the women of Harlan County who actively organized and spearheaded efforts to keep the struggle alive.
Harlan County War (2000)
104m; U.S.
Director: Tony Bill
Cast: Holly Hunter, Stellan Skarsgård and Ted Levine
Synopsis (IMDB): A Kentucky woman whose mine-worker husband is nearly killed in a cave-in, and whose father is slowly dying of black lung disease, joins the picket lines for a long, violent strike.
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