2020 ‧ 1h 32m Filmmaker Jeff Kaufman presents an immersive portrait of human rights activist and political prisoner Nasrin Sotoudeh and the remarkably resilient Iranian women’s rights movement. Initial release: October 1, 2020 Director: Jeff Kaufman Narrated by: Olivia Colman Cast: Olivia Colman Producers: Jeff Kaufman, Marcia Ross Music composed by: Lynn Ahrens, Stephen Flaherty
NOTE: “She is, among other things, a lawyer-activist for labor in Iran. Iran has now imprisoned her again. The film is powerfully moving.”
Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 49 minutes. Rent or buy on FandangoNOW, iTunes and other streaming platforms and pay TV operators.
Director: Robert Jury Writer: Robert Jury Stars: Peter Gerety, Billy Brown, Talia Shire, Michael Brunlieb, Bea Cordelia Running Time: 1h 49m Genre: Drama
A young chambermaid working in one of the most luxurious hotels in Mexico City enrolls in the hotel’s adult education program to help improve her life. Initial release: November 14, 2019 (Brazil) Director: Lila Aviles Language: Spanish Nominations: Ariel Award for Best Breakthrough Artist, MORE Awards: Ariel Award for Best First Work, Platino Award for Best Ibero-American First Film
The aspirations and daily life of a young woman who works at a posh hotel in Mexico City are the subject of this insightful feature film. More details here.
2014 ‧ Drama/Romance ‧ 1h 24m 1h 23min | Comedy, Drama, Romance | 1 April 2016 (Mexico) Economy has collapsed. Among the affected ones lives the rebel teenager Flavia, and her old and grumpy neighbor Martin. Both will learn to relate , not just to survive the crisis, but to find the sense of their lives.
Initial release: 2014 (Mexico) Director: Max Zunino Producers: Max Zunino, Sofía Espinosa, Gloria Charrasco, Joceline Hernandez Screenplay: Max Zunino, Sofía Espinosa Nominations: Ariel Award for Best First Work
Two Mexico City neighbors – a teenaged girl trying to become independent and an aging salesman laid off from his job – come to terms with each other and with poor people who have set up an encampment in the street outside their door. Details here
This brilliant feature film from Spain provides a rare look at work in today’s society. As it opens, an industrial warehouse has been turned into a stage. Eleven workers from different fields have been hired to perform their normal tasks in front of an audience that comes to see “The Work Show.” At first, they are proud to have their skills recognized, but drama ensues when the faceless producers of the show start demanding drastic increases in productivity.
Spanish with English subtitles
With Josean Bengoextea, Bárbara Santa-Cruz, Marta Larralde, Luis Callejo, José Luis Torrijo, Marina Salas, Daniel Pérez Prada, Edu Ferrés, Esther Ortega, Elisabet Gelabert
An industrial warehouse is turned into a stage. Eleven ordinary professionals are hired to do their work in front of an audience with apparent normality: a mason, a butcher, a seamstress, a teleoperator, a waiter, a mechanic, a computer operator, and a cleaner. Meanwhile, from the darkness of the auditorium, dozens of visitors observe the ‘wonderful’ work show. Work of art, reality show, macabre experiment: they do not know what they’ve got into, nor who is the hand that moves the strings in that wicked theater.
With impeccable performances, and a surprising ending, the adaptation of the novel by Isaac Rosa is an astonishing parable of work in contemporary society.
2016 ‧ Drama ‧ 1h 23m Initial release: November 5, 2016 Director: David Macián Producer: David Macián Music composed by: Paco Alcázar Screenplay: David Macián, Daniel Cortázar
2020 ‧ Drama/History ‧ 2h 1m In 1962, workers from a small industrial town go on strike when the communist government raises food prices. Initial release: November 12, 2020 (Russia) Director: Andrei Konchalovsky Russian: Дорогие товарищи! Nominations: Volpi Cup for Best Actress, Grand Jury Prize, MORE Producers: Andrei Konchalovsky, Alisher Usmanov
When the communist government raises food prices in 1962, the rebellious workers from the small industrial town of Novocherkassk go on strike. The massacre which then ensues is seen through the eyes of a devout party activist. Dear Comrades! received critical praise out of the Venice Film Festival, with Variety calling it “scintillating” and “meticulous and majestic, epic in scope and tattoo-needle intimate in effect,” and The Playlist describing it as “a fascinating blend of dark satire and bleak archaeology.”
Directed by Andrei Konchalovsky Written by Andrei Konchalovsky and Elena Kiseleva Starring Julia Vysotskaya, Vladislav Komarov, Andrei Gusev, Yulia Burova and Sergei Erlish
SYNOPSIS : In the autumn, when the leaves are down, it’s the time that folk singing rabble rouser U. Utah Phillips thinks about hitting the rails. As a young man he crisscrossed the country on freight trains in search of teachers that would help to understand himself and where he came from. During this time he experienced the ultimate freedom of having no home ahead and none behind but he also experienced the works of mercy as he faced the difficulties of his journey. He discovered the dynamic struggle of people to organize themselves and demand a quality of life for themselves and those around them that provides bread yes, but roses too.
Tales From the Long Memory follows the people who look to Utah as their teacher now while they continue the work that inspired him throughout his life. In Detroit the Wobbly Kitchen shows how the simple act of feeding someone can spark a community of solidarity in a city struggling to rebuild its glory. In Madison the sweet sounds of labor songs echo through the capital building every day at noon. In Portland the Sisters of the Road Café serve up dignity and nourishment at a price you can afford. And in a quaint northern California gold rush town, a dedicated group of community members grow an idea into a house of hospitality called Utah’s Place.
They couldn’t kill their bosses, so they did the next best thing—they organized.
When Dolly Parton sang “9 to 5,” she was doing more than just shining a light on the fate of American working women. Parton was singing the true story of a movement that started with 9to5, a group of Boston secretaries in the early 1970s. Their goals were simple—better pay, more advancement opportunities, and an end to sexual harassment—but their unconventional approach attracted the press and shamed their bosses into change. Featuring interviews with 9to5’s founders, as well as actor and activist Jane Fonda, 9to5: The Story of a Movement is the previously untold story of the fight that inspired a hit and changed the American workplace.
Chuck (Henry Winkler) has given up life as a stockbroker because it was too stressful. Now, he works an easy gig as a night shift attendant at a New York City morgue. His co-worker, Bill Blazejowski (Michael Keaton), on the other hand, is always looking to make a quick buck. When Bill finds out that Chuck’s prostitute neighbor, Belinda (Shelley Long), needs a place to do her work, he convinces Chuck to turn the morgue into a brothel where they can work as her pimps.
Release date: July 30, 1982 (USA)
Director: Ron Howard
Screenplay: Babaloo Mandel, Lowell Ganz
Music composed by: Burt Bacharach, Carole Bayer Sager, David Foster
(NYT) This Ron Howard comedy takes the mantra “Do what you love” to some zany and enterprising places. The high-concept idea is a slam dunk (two guys run a prostitution ring out of a morgue), but its stars, Henry Winkler and Michael Keaton, bring so much charm to their odd-couple roles that they move them beyond cliché. While the movie has plenty of ’80s sex comedy silliness (and songs by Burt Bacharach), its pimps (or “love brokers,” as Keaton’s character calls them) take a respectful career-style approach to sex work, seeing that their employees get health and dental insurance, while also giving them an ownership stake in a fast-food restaurant. A 401(k) may not be far behind. MEKADO MURPHY
THE LABOR FILM DATABASE 