5:06; U.S.
Director: March of Time newsreel
Synopsis: Newsreel footage about Pearl Berghoff, the owner of the Berghoff Agency which was one of the premier strike-breaking companies through the 1930s. The newsreel both gives an overview of Berghoff, and looks specifically at his company’s involvement in strikes in Georgia in 1934.
10:36; U.S.
Director: Robert Cannon
Synopsis: An animated short film sponsored by the United Autoworkers which breaks down various racist ideas of difference among peoples. In some ways the presentation will seem awkward to a modern audience, but considering when it was made and the intended audience (rank-and-file white workers), it is an impressive document.
In the 1920s, Ford Motor Co. was considered the leader in manufacturing technology and practices. Elements of Taylor’s scientific management were combined with what economists now call “efficiency wages” (wages well above the general market – the famous $5 day). In this video, workers and others of that era reflect on working at Ford. Some are positive; others not.
U.S.
Director: Hima B
Synopsis: License to Pimp is a feature documentary about the choices that three San Francisco strippers make as their workplaces engage in illegal labor practices. Strip clubs refuse to pay strippers even minimum wages & actually charge them for the privilege to work. I worked in half of San Francisco’s strip clubs during the 1990s and witnessed how co-workers felt economically pressured to engage in prostitution to make their quotas to avoid being fired. Now as a filmmaker, I uncover current working conditions & try to find out how strip clubs are able to operate outside the law.
Contact: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/himab/license-to-pimp-documentary
57m; U.K.
Director: Margaret Dickinson
Synopsis: “Builders and The Games is a 57 minute feature documentary about construction workers and the building of the 2012 Olympic Park in Stratford, London. Shot between 2007 and 2012, it looks at how far the Olympic Site set an example to the construction industry and compares outcomes with early promises about safety, training, jobs and recruitment.”
Contact: http://constructionandthegames.com/
Trailer
90m; U.S.
Director: Craig Zobel
Cast: Ann Dowd, Dreama Walker and Pat Healy
Synopsis: “In the middle of a bad day Sandra (Ann Dowd), the harried manager of a fast-food franchise, receives a phone call from a man claiming to be a police officer. He accuses an employee named Becky (Dreama Walker) of theft and instructs Sandra to subject the pretty teenager to a series of humiliations: detain her in the stock room, confiscate her belongings, conduct a strip search and on and on. As the title suggests, at each step of this increasingly elaborate and unnerving hoax, Sandra and Becky do what they are told.”
–‘Compliance’ Raises Questions About Human Behavior; NYT 8/10/2012
Trailer
142m; U.S.
Director: Gary Ross
Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson and Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Donald Sutherland
Synopsis: In a dystopic future North America called Panem, the wealthy elite who live in the central city (known as the Capitol) exploit the impoverished workers of the rest of the country who are divided into twelve districts. The Capitol employs a range of social controls, including the Hunger Games, an annual event where two children from each district are thrown into an arena and fight until only one is left alive.
Into these games is thrust Katniss Everdeen, the daughter of a coal miner, who must use her wits and skills to survive while trying to maintain her humanity, even as her examples of resistance and solidarity begin to inspire some of the districts towards rebellion.
Trailer
THE LABOR FILM DATABASE 