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Category Archives: Occupation/Type of Work

Boom and Bust: America’s Journey on the Erie Canal

11 Nov

Directed by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Paul Wagner and co-produced by Steve Zeitlin of CityLore and Erie Canal Museum Curator Daniel Ward, the film tells the story of industrial expansion and decline along the Erie Canal and examines its impact on the lives of workers in steel, grain, textiles and shipping. Wagner’s credits include The Stone Carvers and Windhorse. A meditation on economic cycles and the American Dream. The film surveys the macro-economics of industrial expansion and decline along the Erie Canal, and examines its impact on the lives of workers in steel, grain, textiles and shipping. In the wake of economic collapse, can the people of America’s cities find meaning and worth?

Paul Wagner, Charlottesville, VA:  pw@paulwagnerfilms.com

 
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Posted by on November 11, 2015 in Documentary, Immigrants/Immigration, Labor History, Technology, Transportation

 

Sherpa (2015)

11 Nov

96 min  |  Documentary  |  2 October 2015 (USA)

Director/writer: Jennifer Peedom

A fight on Everest? It seemed incredible. But in 2013 news channels around the world reported an ugly brawl at 21,000ft as European climbers fled a mob of angry Sherpas. In 1953, New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay had reached the summit in a spirit of co-operation and brave optimism. Now climbers and Sherpas were trading insults – even blows. What had happened to the happy, smiling Sherpas and their dedication in getting foreigners to the top of the mountain they hold so sacred? Determined to explore what was going on, the filmmakers set out to make a film of the 2014 Everest climbing season, from the Sherpas’ point of view. Instead, they captured a tragedy that would change Everest forever. At 6.45am on 18th April, 2014, a 14 million ton block of ice crashed down onto the climbing route through the Khumbu Icefall, killing 16 Sherpas. It was the worst tragedy in the history of Everest. The disaster provoked a drastic reappraisal about the role of the Sherpas in the Everest industry. SHERPA, tells the story of how, in the face of fierce opposition, the Sherpas united in grief and anger to reclaim the mountain they call Chomolungma.

‘Sherpa’ Delves Into a Risky Profession The documentary makers, who were at Mount Everest when 16 sherpas died in an ice avalanche in 2014, explore the tensions between these guides and their wealthy clients.

 
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Posted by on November 11, 2015 in Discrimination: Racism, Sexism, etc, Documentary, Safety & Health, Service Workers, Strikes-Strikebreaking-Lockouts

 

Open Eyes (2013)

11 Nov

Filmmaker: Martin Aletta

Argentina/Japan | 2013 | Fiction | 15 minutes

Tokyo. Ryo goes to his job at the railway company where he’s task is remove the remains of the railroad due to the numerous suicides. Saki, a young girl, wanders around her city contemplating an apathetic society. Her walk drives her to the platform of station where Ryo finds her…

2015 Brazilian International Labour Film Festival

 
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Posted by on November 11, 2015 in Cities-Urban, Drama, Philosophy, Transportation, Women

 

The Seaman (2014)

11 Nov

Filmmaker: Ting-Ging YU

Taiwan | 2014 | Fiction | 18 minutes

Acen’s girlfriend, Yuli, is a caregiver, and she always waits for him to come back; Anan misses his home in Indonesia by viewing the sea. One day, he meets Dora. They fall in love with each other, and Anan feels the love of a girl who comes from his homeland.

2015 Brazilian International Labour Film Festival

 
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Posted by on November 11, 2015 in Drama, Global Economy, Immigrants/Immigration, Service Workers, Women

 

Second Class (2013)

11 Nov

Filmmakers: Marta Dauliute and Elisabeth Marjanovic ́ Cronvall

Sweden/Lithuania | 2013 | Documentary | 60 minutes

“Do you feel cheaper?” We are filming Lithuanian migrant working men in Sweden. They do not want to be on camera, they do not want to participate in creating one more media image for guilt and pity. They film us. We empty a bottle of moonshine, we dance on their porch. They might let us film them tomorrow.

Through sincere and frustrating negotiation to get access to film the migrant workers, Second Class becomes a discussion about class, the value of work and human. While showing the filming process film raises questions about power relations in film industry itself.
2015 Brazilian International Labour Film Festival

 
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Posted by on November 11, 2015 in Class, Documentary, Global Economy, Immigrants/Immigration, Migrant workers, Philosophy

 

Ya Wooto (2014)

11 Nov

Filmmaker: Jenny Cartwright

Canada/Burkina Faso | 2014 | Documentary | 68 minutes

From his village to the big city, Sylvain is trying to make it in Ouagadougou, the capital city of Burkina Faso, one of the world’s five poorest countries. There, he found a job as a bar manager at Le coin des Amis, a “buvette” owned by Hortense, a policewoman trying to make ends meet. Work is home for Sylvain: he works seven days a week and sleeps in the backroom. He has only one thing in mind: saving up enough money to get his driver’s license. If he succeeds, he could drive a merchandise truck, a job that would allow him to find a wife and start a family. In Burkina Faso, you are not really an adult until you are married. That is why he saves 100% of the 20$ he makes every month. In a year’s time he will have saved up enough cash to start his lessons.
2015 Brazilian International Labour Film Festival

 
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Posted by on November 11, 2015 in Cities-Urban, Class, Documentary, Immigrants/Immigration, Migrant workers

 

The Gold Of Faso (2015)

11 Nov

Filmmaker: Dragoss Ouedraogo

Burkina Faso | 2015 | Documentary | 62 minutes

Since 2009, Burkina Faso knows a situation of “mining boom” after a campaign of geological exploration and an incitement of foreigner investments. But thanks to a favourable mining code and a discriminatory legislation, this “mining boom” looks like a huge operation of looting the resources of the country, enriching the managers of this network and droping the populations loosing their grounds.

The Gold of Faso does not shine for every body and the anger grows.
2015 Brazilian International Labour Film Festival

 
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Posted by on November 11, 2015 in Documentary, Environment, Global Economy, Industrial/Mine/Manufacturing, Safety & Health

 

Elf (2015)

11 Nov

Filmmaker: Ting-Ging YU

Taiwan | 2015 | Fiction | 18 minutes

Yen is an albino. She struggled through study and became a teacher. Hao-hao wrote to Yen and told her that he finally got a job. Ah-chih suffers from physical handicaps and creates great paintings. The director compares those who suffer from physical handicaps but being hard-working like angels sent by God.

 
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Posted by on November 11, 2015 in Discrimination: Racism, Sexism, etc, Documentary, Education, Women

 

Pay Slip Shut Down (2014)

11 Nov

Filmmaker: Lee Salter

United Kingdon | 2014 | Documentary | 10 minutes

A film documenting the struggles of precarious workers to receive full pay from the hospitality industry in Brighton. This documents one such struggle, led by Solidarity Federation against a cafe that was not paying.
2015 Brazilian International Labour Film Festival

 
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Posted by on November 11, 2015 in Documentary, Temp/Precarious work

 

The Seeds (2015)

11 Nov

Filmmakers: Beto Novaes and Claisson Vidal
Brazil | 2015 | Documentary | 30 minutes

The documentary portrays life trajectories of women farmers participating actively in agroecological movements in Brazil. They are protagonists of important social changes in the Brazilian countryside. Moreover, these women organise the movements themselves, autonomously, as social and political leaders that are questioning stereotypes of the social imaginary.
2015 Brazilian International Labour Film Festival; http://www.bilff.org

 
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Posted by on November 11, 2015 in Documentary, Farm & Food, Women

 
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