11m
Director: Dominique Basi
Synopsis (CLiFF): Follows Karnel Basi, a public transit bus driver in South Vancouver, along his regular route through the downtown east side to the heart of the city and back again. Along the way he picks up a variety of passengers, struggles to stay on schedule and keep his bus safe. A good student film.
86m; U.S.
Director: Haskell Wexler
Synopsis: In this extraordinary video, Academy Award-winning cinematographer Haskell Wexler records the several-year-long struggle of the Los Angeles Bus Riders Union (BRU) to win better service and to challenge the race and class bias in city spending priorities. At 86 minutes, it’s long for classroom use and drags in a few places for many high school students; but what a rich documentary this is. At the outset, Kikanza Ramsey, a young BRU organizer, explains that the union is “a political, social experiment to see if we can build a multiracial, bilingual, gender-balanced mass movement of working class people that is willing to fight for a set of demands that challenges corporate capital.” And this is not mere rhetoric. The remainder of the film brings her words to life, revealing the twists and turns, highs and lows of this struggle as seen through the eyes of participants.
Synopsis: “a tribute to working class people/culture and focuses on the lives of five generation miners and their families who have lived and worked in Butte over the past 125 years”
Contact: Pamela Roberts; Producer, Rattlesnake Productions, Inc. pam.rattlesnake@gmail.com 1615 Hillside Lane Bozeman, MT 59715 Cell: 406-579-0304
57m
Director: John de Graaf and Hana Jindrova
Synopsis (Bull Frog Films): Under the auspices of the WTO, globalization of world trade seems like a juggernaut that will not be stopped. But is there a way to make trade FAIR? How can retailers and consumers use their purchasing power and market choice to make the world better for people and the environment? What is the promise of product certification and labeling?
BUYER BE FAIR looks at two major trade goods — timber and coffee — to find out how certification works and whether it helps the world’s poor, and their lands. Can the lessons from certification of timber, by the Forest Stewardship Council, and coffee, by Fair Trade, be applied to other products?
Website: http://www.buyerbefair.org/
40m; Turkey
Director: Güliz Saglam, Feryal Saygiligil
Synopsis: Seven workers, all women. Four free-trade zones in four different Turkish cities. Surrounded by high walls, barbed wire fences, very much like a concentration camp. This documentary covers the working conditions of women in the free-trade zones, their experiences, observations and their hopes for the future. The barbed wire fences not only surround the zones but also accentuate the captivity of women workers. So much so that the borders of the zone evade us, inside and outside become indistinguishable.
94m
Director: Toshi Fijiwara
Synopsis: A portrait of documentary filmmaker, Noriaki Tsuchimoto.
60m; South Africa
Director:
Synopsis: Documentary detailing labor strikes by South African unions against the apartheid regime.
16m; India
Director: Andre Hörmann
Synopsis: Inside an Indian call center.
21m; Canada
Director: Canadian Auto Workers
Synopsis: Documentary about sexual harassment on the job and the women who are affected by it. Video shows how the issue, if not dealt with, can weaken or destroy a local union by dividing men and women on issues.
Chile
Director: Tom Cohen and Richard Pearce
Synopsis: Depicts unalienated labor of slum dwellers who rebuild their own village in Allende’s Chile.
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