40m; U.S.
Director: Jack Arnold
Cast: Sam Levene, Arlene Francis and Joseph Wiseman
Synopsis (IMDB): Film produced by the International Ladies Garment Workers Union — featuring several well-known Broadway actors — recreates Triangle Fire of 1913 and compares working conditions of the 1910’s with the 1950’s.
80m; U.S.
Director: Matthew Barr
Synopsis: In March 2007, unable to compete with cheaper offshore production, Hooker Furniture Company closed its plant in Martinsville, Virginia, after 83 years in operation. “With These Hands” follows the last load of kiln-dried wood down the assembly line as it is cut, honed, and assembled into fine furniture. Along the way, employees at the factory share their perspectives on work, community, and survival in a country devastated by deindustrialization and outsourcing.
Contact: Matthew Barr Associate Professor Department of Broadcasting and Cinema (336) 334-3887 m_barr@uncg.edu
28m; Cuba
Director: Pamela Sporn
Synopsis: Takes viewers into the legendary cigar factories of Cuba where we witness the unique tradition of ‘la lectura de tabaqueria’, the collective reading of literature while tabaqueros roll habanos.
Contact: raicescubanas@aol.com 917-921-8678 (Cell)
English subtitles throughout
distributed by Grito Productions: http://www.gritoproductions.com
Description
With a Stroke of the Chaveta is a poetic documentary short (28 minutes) that leaves us wondering where to draw the line between “worker” and “intellectual.” From the middle of the 1800s to the early 1900s lectores, or readers, were an integral part of the world of cigar workers in Cuba, Puerto Rico, Florida, and New York. Through “la lectura,” or reading, communities of cigar workers were entertained, educated, and developed a sense of class solidarity.
The voice of the cigar makers’ beloved lector is but a whisper in most places. How has the tradition of factory readings survived in Cuba?
Con el toque de la chaveta (With a Stroke of the Chaveta) takes viewers into the legendary cigar factories of Cuba to witness the unique practice of “la lectura de tabaquería”, the collective reading of literature while tabaqueros roll habanos. From “lectores” Odalys, Aguila and Gricel we learn about the challenges of meeting the expectations of a knowledgeable and demanding workforce and the satisfaction of receiving the applause of hundreds of “chavetas” in unison. Cigar makers inform us that they can’t imagine working without a reader to accompany them.
Credits
Directed and Produced by Pam Sporn
Camera: Rigoberto Senarega Madruga
Editor: Pam Sporn
Festival Screenings and Prizes
First Prize: Festival del Habano Film Festival, Havana, 2012
Best Documentary Short: Cine Las Americas Film Festival, Austin,Texas, 2008
Festival internacional del nuevo cine latinoamericano, Havana
Maysles Cinema, Harlem, NY
Chicago International Latino Film Festival
London International Documentary Film Festival
Gasparilla Film Festival, Tampa, Florida
Los Angeles International Latino Film Festival
Quote from a review: Pam Sporn’s engaging documentary, Con el toque de la chaveta, provides a revealing contemporary view of a thriving cultural institution, created by and for workers long before the Cuban revolution.
Robert Ingalls, Professor Emeritus, University of South Florida
Co-author (with Louis A. Perez, Jr.) of Tampa Cigar Workers: A Pictorial History
10m; Canada
Director: Vincenzo Pietropaolo
Synopsis: A short documentary featuring the work of acclaimed photographer and social activist Vincenzo Pietropaolo, who has spent the last 25 years capturing images of farm workers and their struggle for justice, diginity and respect.
Running Time: 117 Minutes
Country: Germany
Genre: Documentary
Director – Volker Koepp
Screenplay – Volker Koepp
Producer – Herbert Kruschke
Three East German women spend over twenty years at a textile mill in Wittstock only to find themselves jobless shortly after the destruction of the Berlin Wall in 1990. In telling their tragic story, this provocative documentary–begun by filmmaker Volker Koepp and his cameraman Christian Lehmann in 1974 and finished in 1996–offers a critical look at the downside of Germany’s reunification. In 1974, the three women, Renata, Elizabeth and Edith were all young woman working in the Wittstock textile mill. The filmmakers return to the women in 1983. By this time, the women have matured and experienced marriages, divorces and had children. Their hard work at the mill has paid off and each has been promoted. In 1990, following the demise of the Wall, their heretofore contented lives are destroyed when their company is purchased by Fashion Ltd and massive downsizing efforts begin. Women are the primary targets, especially those who make a fuss. Within a year, all three women are unemployed and struggling to find new jobs. The film rejoins them in 1993 and finds that things have not improved. By 1996, the unemployment level has reached 90% and things look bleak for the women, who despite the poor economic prognosis continue struggling to find new jobs. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi
155m; U.S.
Director: John Cassavetes
Cast: Gena Rowlands, Peter Falk and Fred Draper
Synopsis (IMDB); Mabel, a wife and mother, is loved by her husband Nick but her madness proves to be a problem in the marriage. The film transpires to a positive role of madness in the family, challenging conventional representations of madness in cinema.
Director: Joan E. Biren
Synopsis: Inspirational short doc portrays women organizers across the U.S. who are involved in global struggles for racial, social, and economic justice. MB Maxwell (former JWJ Exec Dir) and Tracey Conaty (AFSCME) are featured.
Director: Vivian Price
Synopsis: Female construction workers
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