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Category Archives: Documentary

Standing Tall, Women Unionize the Catfish Industry (2001)

07 May
Run Time: 50min.
Produced, written and directed by Donald Blank
The boom in Mississippi catfish farming, in the 1980’s, required processing plants and hundreds of workers. The mostly black female workforce had to work, in noisy and wet factories for minimum wage, without any benefits, bathroom breaks or recourse if a worker was mistreated. The Mississippi Delta, at the time, was notoriously poor, neglected, and resistant to change.This historical documentary chronicles the risky and difficult effort of a few women working at Delta Pride Catfish to organize a United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) local 1529 at their plant. The 1986 union election victory surprised many locals, especially management at Delta Pride. In 1990, the workers at Delta Pride struck for two months and won better wages and working conditions. The strike established local 1529 as an important player in the catfish industry, with a membership today of 3,000 workers.

Rose Turner, Mary Young and Sarah White, who initiated and led local 1529, tell the story with passion and humor.

available from Filmakers Library

 
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Posted by on May 7, 2012 in Blacks, Collective Bargaining, Documentary

 

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Standing on My Sisters’ Shoulders (2002)

07 May

61m; U.S.

Director: Laura J. Lipson

Synopsis (official website): The award-winning documentary “Standing On My Sisters’ Shoulders” takes on the Civil Rights movement in Mississippi in the 1950’s and 60’s from the point of view of the courageous women who lived it – and emerged as its grassroots leaders. These women stood up and fought for the right to vote and the right to an equal education. They not only brought about change in Mississippi, but they altered the course of American history.

This documentary presents original interviews with many of the Civil Rights movement’s most remarkable women: Unita Blackwell, a sharecropper turned activist, who became Mississippi’s first female black mayor; Mae Bertha Carter, a mother of 13, whose children became the first to integrate the Drew County schools against dangerous opposition; white student activist Joan Trumpauer Mulholland who not only participated in sit-ins but took a stand on integration by attending an all black university; Annie Devine and Victoria Gray Adams, who, along with Fannie Lou Hamer, stepped up and challenged the Democratic Party and President Johnson at the 1964 Convention.

Contact: http://www.sisters-shoulders.org/film.html

 
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Posted by on May 7, 2012 in Blacks, Documentary, Organizing, Women

 

Starkiss: Circus Girls in India (2003)

07 May

77m; Netherlands/India

Director: Jascha de Wilde, Chris Relleke

Synopsis (IMDB): This documentary provides an interesting look at the life of young girls (as young as 7)who are basically sold to the circus as performers. Some parent’s, having received advances on their daughter’s contracts, abandon them for years. Others, pay occasional visits to their daughters, often coming for another advance. The girls are basically jailed, unable to communicate with anyone other than their trainers and guard. A well done documentary providing some really poignant shots and candid interviews.

 
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Posted by on May 7, 2012 in Children, Documentary, Entertainment Industry

 

Startup.com (2001)

07 May

107m; U.S.

Director: Chris Hegedus, Jehane Noujaim

Cast: Kaleil Isaza Tuzman, Tom Herman and Kenneth Austin

Synopsis (IMDB): Kaleil Isaza Tuzman and Tom Herman have had a dream since they became friends at age fifteen: get rich by developing their own dot com company, in some aspect of computer technology interface. Now in their late twenties, they have now come up with the idea they believe will make their riches, namely as Tom refers to it, “parking tickets”: the company will be the on-line revenue collection interface for municipal governments. GovWorks.com came into existence in May 1999 with only an idea. The process of building the business focuses on obtaining venture capital based solely on the idea, with the actual mechanics of the website seemingly almost an afterthought, or at least one left primarily to the hired help. Regardless of the strength of the idea itself in raising this capital, another initial problem they face is what they see as non-commitment by a third partner, Kaleil’s friend Chieh Cheung.

 
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Posted by on May 7, 2012 in Documentary, Technology, White Collar

 

Stolen Childhoods (2005)

07 May

85m; Various

Director: Len Morris & Robin Romano

Cast: Meryl Streep (narrator)

Synopsis: Stolen Childhoods is a feature length documentary on global child labor.

 
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Posted by on May 7, 2012 in Children, Documentary, Global Economy

 

Stolt Australia (2007)

07 May

11m; Australia

Synopsis: Fight by MUA ship crew of the MT Stolt to keep jobs

 
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Posted by on May 7, 2012 in Documentary, Working Class

 

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Store Wars: When Wal-Mart Comes to Town

07 May

59m; U.S.

Director: Micha X. Peled

Synopsis (IMDB): Documentary that follows events in Ashland, VA, over a one-year period, from the first stormy public hearing that galvanizes residents’ opposition until the Town Council takes a final vote on the proposed Wal-Mart Store. Highlights Wal-Mart as the icon of the Big Box Industry and the symbol of sprawl.

 
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Posted by on May 7, 2012 in Documentary, Organizing, Working Class

 

Stories From The Mines (2004)

07 May

57m; U.S.

Director: Thomas M. Curr and Greg Matkosky

Synopsis: Stories from the Mines chronicles the struggle of these miners to earn a decent wage, alleviate dangerous working conditions, and gain respect. The perilous work the miners performed for extremely low pay laid the foundation for America’s Industrial Revolution and the modern labor movement. Great Strike of 1902; United Mine Workers; anthracite coal; strikes.

Contact: http://www.aptonline.org/catalog.nsf/GenreLookup/A561F47E25B2B94885256C440059138E http://www.press.uchicago.edu/presssite/metadata.epl?mode=synopsis&bookkey=231727

 
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Posted by on May 7, 2012 in Documentary, Labor History, Organizing, Strikes-Strikebreaking-Lockouts

 

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Strictly Background

07 May

84m; U.S.

Director: Jason Connell

Cast: Terry Bolo, Geoffrey Gould and Cecilia Hartfeld

Synopsis (IMDB): For decades, film and television audiences have watched their favorite stars with little thought or concern for the people standing behind them. All of that is about to change as “Strictly Background” explores the charm and determination of some of Hollywood’s hardest working actors, professional “extras.” Turning industry convention on its head, this humorous & heartfelt documentary follows ten background actors as they navigate their way on and off the set. Both a behind-the-scenes look at Hollywood and a character-driven film, “Strictly Background” is a dynamic exploration into the pursuit of stardom and the real life struggle to stand out

 
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Posted by on May 7, 2012 in Documentary, Entertainment Industry, Working Class

 

Strong Roots (2001)

07 May

43m; Brazil

Director: Maria Luisa Mendonca and Aline Sasahara

Synopsis: Pedro, Antonio, and Luis joined Brazil’s Landless Workers Movement in search of a piece of land, dignity in their lives, and justice in their society. Through their memories and their day- to-day lives in Pernambuco and Bahia, they bring us a personal portrait one of the most vital social movement in Latin America today. The Landless Workers Movement (MST) started in 1985 to correct the extremely unequal concentration of land in Brazil. There, 1% of large landholders control 46% of agricultural land. Of the 400 million hectares of arable land, only 60 million are used for planting crops; 4.8 million families have no land, while 35 million Brazilians live in poverty. Over the past 15 years, the Landless Workers Movement has won 20 million hectares of land for 300,000 families and built thousands of food production cooperatives and schools. These land occupations bring new life to people without hope. And they pressure the Brazilian government to implement agrarian reform. The MST land redistribution is grounded in Brazilian Constitutional law, which decrees that land must fulfill a “social function.” Today, nearly 100,000 families prepare to occupy land in order to feed themselves. They live under plastic tents, by the roads, waiting for their chance to work and produce. They are the soldiers on the front line in the battle for Brazil’s future. – http://www.meaningfulmovies.org/film_list/films/film_187.htm

 
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Posted by on May 7, 2012 in Communism/Socialism, Documentary, Farm & Food, Organizing

 
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