55m; U.S.
Director: College of Labor and Employment Lawyers
Synopsis: Documentary highlighting labor turbulence in the 60s and 70s through the eyes of former Labor Secretaries Willard Wirtz and Bill Usery. Includes the pilots strike among other events, and shows “vividly how labor secretaries can differ in interests and style, with very different effects on labor.”
Contact: College Executive Director Susan Wan SWan@gibsondunn.com 202-955-8225
29m; India/Denmark
Director: Jens Pedersen
Synopsis: Manual scavengers in India and ‘the most disgusting job on earth’-picking up human excreta with one’s bare hands.
Contact: jjp@net.dialog.dk (+45) 40757172 (Work)
15m; U.S.
Director: Laura Fishman
Synopsis: How the WGA won a fair share from the entertainment industry.
Contact: lfishman@ucsc.edu
123m; Senegal, Africa
Director: Ousmane Sembene
Cast: Thierno Leye, Myriam Niang and Seune Samb
Synopsis (IMDB): It is the dawn of Senegal’s independence from France, but as the citizens celebrate in the streets we soon become aware that only the faces have changed. White money still controls the government. One official, Aboucader Beye, known by the title “El Hadji,” takes advantage of some of that money to marry his third wife, to the sorrow and chagrin of his first two wives and the resentment of his nationalist daughter. But he discovers on his wedding night that he has been struck with a “xala,” a curse of impotence. El Hadji goes to comic lengths to find the cause and remove the xala, resulting in a scathing satirical ending.
Release Date: 1996 Duration: 107 min
Cast: José Wilker
Xica da Silva (released as Xica in the United States) is a 1976 Brazilian film directed and written by Carlos Diegues, based on the novel by João Felício dos Santos pt:João Felício dos Santos. It stars Zezé Motta, Walmor Chagas and José Wilker. It was chosen as the Brazilian submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 49th Academy Awards, but it failed to get a nomination. The film is based on the novel Memórias do Distrito de Diamantina, written by João Felicio dos Santos (who has a small role in the film as a Roman Catholic pastor). It is a romanticized retelling of the true story of Chica da Silva, an 18th century African slave in the state of Minas Gerais, who attracts the attention of João Fernandes de Oliveira, a Portuguese sent by Lisbon with the Crown’s exclusive contract for mining diamonds, and eventually becomes his lover. He quickly asserts control, letting the intendant and other authorities know that he’s onto their corruption scheme. Eventually Lisbon hears of João’s excesses and sends an inspector. José, a political radical, provides Xica refuge.
110m; Japan
Director: Sato Mitsuo / Yamaoka Kyoichi
Synopsis: In Tokyo the area stretching from Taito Ward to Arakawa Ward was formerly called Sanya. (Locals refer to this area as “Yama”.) Today, Sanya is a place where day laborers come together to live and find work. These laborers usually do what their employers tell them, and are often targets for exploitation by yakuza gangsters and right-wing groups. But the workers decided to form a labor union and begin to fight for improved working conditions, and it was this that director Sato Mitsuo tried to capture with his camera. However, the strike became a violent clash between workers and gangsters, and on the eleventh day of filming Sato was stabbed to death by a member of the yakuza. After the funeral was over, and the confusion of not having a director had passed, the task of completing the film passed on to Yamaoka Kyoichi (a key player in the labor disputes), and the production and exhibition committee. This film takes us around the country to several gathering places in Kotobuki-cho, Kamagasaki, Sasajima, and Fukuoka, showing us the struggle for the cause of day laborers who are dying in poverty. We are also taken to the mining community of Chikuho, which is where many of the laborers come from. Returning to Sanya, we see once more the continuing struggle taking place there, tied together with the symbolic image of the rising sun. Unfortunately, after filming was completed, and just prior to the premiere screening, the second director Yamaoka Kyoichi was shot to death. Both directors of this film were murdered.
58m; U.S.
Director: Robert & Marjory Potts
Synopsis: Biography of the first woman cabinet secretary and “mother” of Social Security, Frances Perkins.
91m; Canada
Director: Paul Manly
Synopsis (IMDB): You, Me, and the S.P.P: Trading Democracy for Corporate Rule is a feature length documentary which exposes the corporatist agenda of the Security Prosperity Partnership, that is currently undermining the democratic authority of the citizens of North America
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