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Category Archives: Genre

Coalmining Women

40m; U.S.

Directed by: Elizabeth Barret
1982; Running Time: 40:00
Color
https://store.appalshop.org/shop/appalshop-films/coalmining-women/

Interviewed at home and on the job, women coal miners tell of the conditions that led them to seek employment in this traditionally male-dominated industry–and the problems they encountered once hired. Watching these women bolt mine roofs, shovel beltlines, haul rock dust, and build ventilation barriers leaves little doubt that they can, indeed, do the work. Proud of their accomplishments, the women also seem to bring a special understanding to the problems all miners face. Coalmining Women traces women’s significant contributions to past coalfield struggles and the importance of their newer position as working miners. It is an excellent film for audiences interested in women in nontraditional roles, women’s history, labor studies, and women as a force for social change.

 

 
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Posted by on February 21, 2012 in Documentary, Women, Working Class

 

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Code 46 (2003)

92m; U.K

Director: Michael Winterbottom

Cast: Tim Robbins, Samantha Morton

Synopsis: Dystopian science-fiction movie about a doomed romance between a bureaucrat and a “genetically incompatible” woman.  Intriguing premise, but somewhat esoteric in execution.

 
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Posted by on February 21, 2012 in Global Economy, SciFi, White Collar, Women

 

Collision Course (1988)

47m; U.S.

Director: Alex Gibney

Synopsis: A case study of Eastern Airlines tracing rise and fall of workplace cooperation that temporarily saved Eastern from bankruptcy

 
 

Come Back Africa (1960)

95m

Director: Lionel Rogosin

Cast: Zachria Makeba, Miriam Makeba, Vinah Makeba, Molly Parkin

Synopsis: New print of what is now a classic ‘docu-fictie’ provides a unique picture of South Africa in the 1950s, made at that time under great pressure of time with non-professional actors and without permission from the authorities. Zacharia is a worker without a work permit and therefore falls victim to exploitation, sudden dismissal and arrest.

Contact: International Film Festival Rotterdam Production Department: production@filmfestivalrotterdam.com

 
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Posted by on February 21, 2012 in Blacks, Drama, Politics, Working Class

 

The Comedy of Power (2006)

110m; France

Director: Claude Chabrol

Cast:  Isabelle Huppert, François Berléand and Patrick Bruel

Synopsis: Inspired by the Elf Aquitaine scandal of the 1990s, which exposed extensive corruption in France’s giant gas company

 
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Posted by on February 21, 2012 in Drama, Politics, Whistleblowers

 

The Commitments (1991)

118m; Ireland

Director: Alan Parker

Cast: Robert Arkins, Michael Aherne and Angeline Ball

Synopsis (IMDB): The travails of Jimmy Rabbitte to form the “World’s Hardest Working Band,” The Commitments, and bring soul music to the people of Dublin, Ireland.

 

The Common Touch (1941)

104m; U.K.

Director: John Baxter

Synopsis: Youth inherits business and poses as a tramp to save hostel from demolition.

 
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Posted by on February 21, 2012 in Drama, Working Class

 

La Commune (Paris, 1871) [2001]

345m; France

Director: Peter Watkins

Cast: Eliane Annie Adalto, Pierre Barbieux and Bernard Bombeau

Synopsis: A miniseries following children, women, shopkeepers & nuns reveal fascinating historical detail of the 1871 Paris Commune by sharing their opinions of the political climate.

 

The Company Men (2010)

104m; U.S.

Director: John Wells

Cast: Ben Affleck, Chris Cooper, Tommy Lee Jones, Kevin Costner

Synopsis (IMDB): The story centers on a year in the life of three men trying to survive a round of corporate downsizing at a major company – and how that affects them, their families, and their communities.

 
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Posted by on February 21, 2012 in Drama, White Collar, Working Class

 

Company Town (1983)

25m; U.S.

Director: Jim Rutenbeck

Synopsis: Jim Rutenbeck began his professional career with this film. He now edits many of The American Experience films produced by WGBH-TV, shown nationally on PBS. His award-winning film, Raise the Dead, ends in War, McDowell County, West Virginia. The town of Widen, West Virginia (Clay County) was once a thriving coal mining community. Using interviews, photographs and old film footage, this film recounts the history of Widen and its paternal ruler, coal baron Joseph Gardner Bradley, 1882-1971. It is still considered to be one of the best film portraits of an Appalachian company coal town.

 
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Posted by on February 21, 2012 in Documentary

 

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