30m; US (click above for excerpt)
James Earl Jones narrates the first film made by the American Social History Project’s series on American working people and U.S. history. Using rare documents and pictures, it explores the massive national railroad strikes of 1877, a watershed event in Pittsburgh and U.S. history
94m; Spain
Director: Jesus Ponce
Released back onto the streets after serving her time behind bars, a woman determined to keep out of trouble crosses paths with a shady old friend who might just drag her under in this drama from first-time director Jesus Ponce. Isabel (Isabel Ampudia) has barely been out of the joint for a day when she goes to the local hostel to rent a room and runs across her old pal Rufo (Sabastian Haro). Though Isabel knows that she would have to jettison her past in order to build any kind of sustainable future, the fact remains that she has no home to speak of so she reluctantly accepts Rufo’s offer to become roommates. Rufo is an AIDS-afflicted junkie who earns a meager living by parking cars, but while he’s a generous soul at heart he’s still an unpredictable addict willing to do anything for his next fix. Upon moving in with Rufo, Isabel begins to connect with a number of her new neighbors in the barrio – including friendly shop assistant Manuela (Mercedes Hoyos). At first it seems as if Isabel may be mindful enough to live on the streets without succumbing to the dangers that such a life implies, but when Rufo nicks a handbag and kills his dealer any sense of low-rent stability quickly dissipates.
~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
82m; US
Director: Brad Silberling
Starring: Morgan Freeman, Paz Vega and Jonah Hill
An actor prepping for an upcoming role meets a quirky grocery clerk and the pair hit the road to show one another their respective worlds.
70m; UK
Director: Mike Leigh
Brutally harsh study of an aging Englishwoman and her daily grind cleaning the homes of the wealthy. She returns to her own home each night to face whines and rants from her husband, an alcoholic custodian.
From the BBC series “Play for Today.”
95m; US
Director: Robert Townsend
Starring: André Braugher, Charles S. Dutton & Mario Van Peebles
Dramatic film inspired by the life of black organizer, A. Philip Randolph (Braugher), an early champion of the Civil Rights movement. From1925 to 1937, Randolph led the railway car porters’ bruising battle against the notoriously anti-union Pullman Company, one of the most powerful companies in the United States in the 1920’s. His efforts helped create the first black union, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters. Charles S. Dutton portrays Webster, the union’s Chicago-based organizer.Mario Van Peebles plays Ashley Totten, one of the founding members of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters.Philip Randolph (Braugher) was an ardent socialist and publisher of a struggling radical Harlem magazine called “The Messenger.” Because traditional trade unions such as the American Federation of Labor (AFL)had not yet invited the black working-class to join in the 1920’s, the black labor movement was initiated by the railway porters who worked on the sleeping cars for the Pullman company. Although they were proud of their profession, the porters were often humiliated and dismissed by the upper-class white passengers. They were grossly underpaid. In the eyes of the Pullman Company and many of their patrons alike, the porters were not seen as individuals and were simply referred to “George” after the owner of the railway company.
Originally broadcast on Showtime on February 24, 2002
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