92m
Director: Roger Gual and Julio D. Wallovits
Cast: Miguel Ángel González, Francesc Orella and Francesc Garrido
Synopsis (IMDB): A combative office-worker is recollecting signatures. People are not allowed to smoke in the building, so he wants to ask the bosses to habilitate a smoking room. It seems logical and his colleagues praise the initiative. But actually what comes next reveals the fierce individualism, selfishness and cowardice that each one hide under their white collar.
71m; U.K.
Director: Shane Meadows
Cast: Thomas Turgoose, Ireneusz Czop and Piotr Jagiello
Synopsis: Two teenagers, both newcomers to London, forge an unlikely friendship over the course of a hot summer. Tomo (Thomas Turgoose) is a runaway from Nottingham; Marek (Piotr Jagiello), a Polish immigrant, lives in the district of Somers Town, between King’s Cross and Euston stations, where his dad is working on a new rail link. When Marek agrees to let homeless Tomo move into his room, unbeknownst to his father, the pair forms a strong bond, as they work odd jobs for an eccentric neighbor and compete for the attention of Maria, a beautiful young French waitress whom they are both infatuated with. But it’s only a matter of time before Marek’s dad discovers what’s going on…
114m; U.S.
Director: Paul Newman
Cast: Paul Newman, Henry Fonda and Lee Remick
Synopsis (IMDB): Hank Stamper and his father, Henry Stamper own and operate the family business by cutting and shipping logs in Oregon. The town is furious when they continue working despite the town going broke and the other loggers go on strike ordering the Stampers to stop, however Hank continues to push his family on cutting more trees. Hank’s wife wishes he would stop and hopes that they can spend more time together. When Hank’s half trouble making brother Leland comes to work for them, more trouble starts.
103m; Belguim
Director: Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne
Cast: Olivier Gourmet, Morgan Marinne and Isabella Soupart
Synopsis (IMDB): Olivier – meticulous, careful, even-handed – teaches carpentry at a vocational school in Liège. He’s asked to take on Francis, 16, a new student. He declines the request then begins to watch, even spy on, the new lad. Olivier knows something. Later that day, he’s visited by Magali, his ex-wife, who tells him that she’s remarrying and is pregnant. Olivier seems to follow instinctive responses: “why today?” he demands of Magali; he continues to follow Francis; he changes his mind about enrolling the youth. What’s the history between the two? After that becomes clear, what is it Olivier will do? Is this precise and measured carpenter in control of himself?
103m; U.K.
Director: Jack Cardiff
Cast: Trevor Howard, Dean Stockwell and Wendy Hiller
Synopsis: Film version of DH Lawrence’s early novel about growing up in a mining town.
65m; U.S.
Director: Charles Lamont
Cast: Charles Starrett, Polly Ann Young and William Bakewell
Synopsis (IMDB): Chadburne Steel is run by two brothers, old men. They each have different plans for their sons. Curtis (Holmes Herbert) has put Ronald (William Blakewell) through college in style, and gives him a cushy executive job at the plant. John (Walter Walker) has a more twisted plan. He has given his son away at birth to a machinist and his wife. Phillip (Charles Starrett) has worked his way through college tending the furnace and doing rich kids laundry. Upon graduation, he puts Phillip in the lowest paying job possible , with the plan of promoting him to the executive branch in one year.
Both plans are terribly flawed and lead to an industrial accident and a general strike by the steelworkers.
92m; U.S.
Director: Jean Renoir
Cast: Zachary Scott, Betty Field and J. Carrol Naish
Synopsis (IMDB): Sam Tucker, a cotton picker, in search of a better future for his family, decides to grow his own cotton crop. In the first year, the Tuckers battle disease, a flood, and a jealous neighbor. Can they make it as farmers?
105m; U.S.
Director: Martin Ritt
Cast: Cicely Tyson, Paul Winfield and Kevin Hooks
Synopsis (IMDB): The Morgans, a loving and strong family of Black sharecroppers in Louisiana in 1933, face a serious family crisis when the husband and father, Nathan Lee Morgan, is convicted of a petty crime and sent to a prison camp. After some weeks or months, the wife and mother, Rebecca Morgan, sends the oldest son, who is about 11 years old, to visit his father at the camp. The trip becomes something of an odyssey for the boy. During the journey he stays a little while with a dedicated Black schoolteacher.
87m; Italy
Director: Damjan Kozole
Cast: Peter Musevski, Aljosa Kovacic and Primoz Petkovsek
Synopsis (IMDB): Embittered widower, Ludvik, spends his nights transporting illegal refugees in his van from Croatia, across Slovenia, and into Italy. The young and inexperienced Rudi acts as his helpmate. Together they become a well-trained duo who almost every night convey “spare parts” to Italy. Of course the story of their illegitimate exports into Europe ends tragically, for everyone. The whole idea of this account is that everyone – including ourselves – is looking for happiness: the “spare parts” because of the misery they are plunged into without, and our characters because they can’t find it inside
184m; U.S.
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Cast: Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier and Jean Simmons
Synopsis: This sweeping epic, set in the 1st Century B.C., stars Kirk Douglas. An enslaved army deserter and gladiator, he escapes and recruits 120,000 followers who defeat several Roman legions before finally losing. Stellar cast includes Laurence Olivier, Tony Curtis, Jean Simmons, Charles Laughton and Peter Ustinov. Screenplay by blacklisted Dalton Trumbo, from also black-listed Howard Fast’s novel. ‘Who is Spartacus?’ ‘I am Spartacus!’ (Rochester Labor Film Series)
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