Filmmaker: Matthew Barr
A true David versus Goliath story, “Union Time” is a promotional teaser for a documentary in production about the successful fight to unionize the world’s largest pork slaughterhouse, located in Tar Heel, NC.
Category Archives: Genre
Union Time
Union Women, Union Power: From the Shopfloor to the Streets
30 min
Filmmakers: Dina Yarmos and Sandra Jeong-In Lane
Highlighting five rank and file union women from different sectors across Philadelphia, “Union Women Union Power” introduces viewers to recent fights for democracy in Philadelphia workplace. The film was produced to spur intergenerational dialogue and engage younger women in the labor movement.
Northern Light (2013)
105 min – Documentary | Drama | Family – 1 March 2013 (USA)
Directors: Nick Bentgen, Lisa Kjerulff
Writers: Nick Bentgen, Lisa Kjerulff
Set against the backdrop of a town’s annual snowmobile race, this cinematic, observational documentary explores the American working class experience.
NORTHERN LIGHT interweaves the lives of three families in the northwoods of Michigan. Set against the backdrop of a town’s annual snowmobile race, this cinematic, observational documentary explores the American working class experience. As racers and their families pin their hopes to a 500 mile-long test of endurance, small triumphs and giant sacrifices are made along the way. From a frozen corner of the country emerge three American families.
Pioneer (2013)
Norway–just optioned for US remake by Clooney. North Sea oil rig deep sea divers, workplace injury law suit.
A thriller set at the beginning of the 1980’s Norwegian Oil Boom and centered on a diver whose obsession with reaching the bottom of the Norwegian Sea leads to tragedy.
PIONEER is set in the early 1980s, at the beginning of the Norwegian Oil Boom when enormous oil and gas deposits were discovered in the North Sea. Authorities aim to bring the oil ashore and Petter, a professional diver, has the discipline, strength and courage to take on the world’s most dangerous mission. But a sudden, tragic accident changes everything. Petter is sent on a perilous journey and gradually, he realizes that he is in way over his head and that his life is at stake.
Director: Erik Skjoldbjærg
Writers: Nikolaj Frobenius, Hans Gunnarsson, 3 more credits »
Stars: Aksel Hennie, Wes Bentley, Stephen Lang |
The Song of the Shirt (1979)
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Cast: Martha Gibson, Geraldine Pilgrim, Anna McNiff, Liz Myers, Jill Greenhalgh, Sally Cranfield, Alfred Molina |
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An investigation into the position of working women in the 1840s, the effects of protectionist ‘philanthropy’ and the resistance to it. Explores the plight of a group of women working in the new ‘sweated’ clothes trade in London. |
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| Originally intended as a history of the welfare state, as well as a contribution to debates on feminist history, issues of free trade against philanthropy and capitalist expansion against protectionism, The Song of the Shirt became a subject of debate in itself, not least thanks to its four-year gestation.Many different groups, including Women’s Aid and the Feminist History Project, were involved during this long production period, and as a result the final film had a broader agenda (and therefore audience) than was originally planned. While it still addresses ideas of feminist history and Marxist theory, it can also be read as a rather more ambitious project that fuses the history of fashion, literacy and sexuality.
It is constructed as a documentary, although the use of multiple-screen effects, monitors displaying text and projected backdrops constantly disrupts the flow of information. Few dates are revealed in the film, forcing us to address the arguments rather than the chronology. It moves back and forth between locations and eras, juxtaposed in such a way as to highlight the contradictions in the labour market. Close-ups of women and characters in the dramatised scenes are avoided, and in the tribunal sequence the figure-of-eight camera movements suggest aimlessness. The women’s readings, both singly and in groups, are based on a story that appeared in the magazine Notes to the People. ‘A Page for the Ladies’ argues that all classes of women are oppressed. Women of different classes read the text in different ways, with other voices of workers and political writers given equal footing with the text. The Song of the Shirt‘s combination of relentless political content and a dislocated and disruptive presentation makes it stand out from its contemporaries in its ambition to present a genuinely feminist independent film. Co-director Sue Clayton, a graduate of the Royal College of Art, has continued to explore these themes through her work with the Independent Filmmakers’ Association and Screen magazine. Emma Hedditch |
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No God, No Master (2013)
American independent crime suspense thriller directed, written, and produced by Terry Green and starring David Strathairn, Ray Wise, Sam
Witwer, Edoardo Ballerini and Alessandro Mario. No God, No Master was filmed in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The story includes references to the Ludlow Massacre and depictions of the Sacco and Vanzetti trial and the Wall Street bombing.
When a series of package bombs show up on the doorsteps of prominent politicians and businessmen in the summer of 1919, U.S. Bureau of Investigation Agent William Flynn (David Strathairn) is assigned the task of finding those responsible. He becomes immersed in an investigation that uncovers an anarchist plot to destroy democracy. Inspired by true events of the 20s the film sets the stage for a timely thriller with resoundingly similar parallels to the contemporary war on terrorism and the role government plays to defeat it.
‘No God, No Master,’ a Look at 1919-20 Raids – NYTimes.com
Dis-Connecting People
(35 mins: 18 Secs)
Watch the film here.
Finnish Company Nokia Corporation set up its largest mobile phone assembling plant in Sriperumbadur Taluk of Kancheepuram District in Tamil Nadu in 2005. Attracted by the tax concessions offered under Special Economic Zone Act 2005, resource subsidies and an army of cheap labour, Nokia found it profitable to assemble phones in India and sell them globally. In just 5 years the plant produced 500 million phones. It hired over 12,000 workers with majority being young women.
After profiting for 8 years, the company now faces charges of evading taxes to the Indian Government in thousands of crores. Imminent closure of the factory and loss of employment looms large for thousands of workers.
The film documents the voices of workers that have remained largely muted in the din of tax battle between the corporation and the State. They share there experiences of working in Nokia; the happy times of being ‘connected’; of building dreams of becoming ‘middle class’; their fears, anxiety and anger of being ‘dis-connected’ suddenly by the company that they helped ‘profit’ with their hard work; and their resolve to fight for their employment.
For more information contact: Nokia India Thozhilalar Sangam at nokianits@gmail.com
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