3:12; U.S.
Director: Jason Brown
Synopsis: Documentary about John Sayles’s “Matewan.” Features interviews with John Sayles, Chris Cooper, David Straithairn, and others.
Contact: http://www.themthatwork.com/TTW/Home.html
Category Archives: Occupation/Type of Work
Thelma & Louise (1991)
130m; U.S.
Director: Ridley Scott
Cast: Susan Sarandon, Geena Davis and Harvey Keitel
Synopsis (IMDB): Louise is working in a fast food restaurant as a waitress and has some problems with her friend Jimmy, who, as a musician, is always on the road. Thelma is married to Darryl who likes his wife to stay quiet in the kitchen so that he can watch football on TV. One day they decide to break out of their normal life and jump in the car and hit the road. Their journey, however, turns into a flight when Louise kills a man who threatens to rape Thelma. They decide to go to Mexico, but soon they are hunted by American police.
These Hands (1992)
DVD
45 minutes, 1992, Tanzania, Africa
Director: Flora M’mbugu-Schelling
in Kimakonde and Swahili with English subtitles
http://newsreel.org/video/THESE-HANDS
Who would have suspected that a 45 minute documentary about women crushing rocks, without narration or plot, would offer one of the most unforgettable and rewarding experiences of recent African cinema? Flora M’mbugu-Schelling’s quiet tribute to women at the very bottom of the international economic order ultimately deepens into a mediation on human labor itself. These Hands will stimulate viewers to rethink documentary and to question their own role as consumers in a global economy.
This Is Just The Start (2009)
4m; U.K.
Director: Gary Williams
Synopsis: On 10th October 2009, UNISON organizers met with Chartwell’s (Compass Group plc) Sheffield City school catering staff with the aim of starting to get organized and win their proper pay and conditions.
Contact: G.Williams@unison.co.uk
Thurmond, West Virginia (1996)
22m; U.S.
Director: Laura Harrison
Synopsis: This films documents the falling fortunes of Thurmond, a coal town. Thurmond was once a thriving community, yet today it stands as a ghost town in the making. It was also the main filming location for John Sayles’ film “Matewan.” This film, directed by Laura Harrison, looks at the history the town, while subtly probing deeper issues about the importance of community and the identity of a place.
To Sleep with Anger (1990)
101m; U.S.
Director: Charles Burnett
Cast: Danny Glover, Paul Butler and DeVaughn Nixon
Synopsis (Wikipedia): Harry Mention (Danny Glover), an enigmatic drifter from the South, comes to visit an old acquaintance named Gideon (Paul Butler), who now lives in South-Central Los Angeles. Harry’s charming, down-home manner hides a malicious penchant for stirring up trouble, and he exerts a strange and powerful effect on Gideon and his thoroughly assimilated black, middle-class family, including wife Suzie (Mary Alice) and sons Junior (Carl Lumbly) and Babe Brother (Richard Brooks).
After Gideon suffers a stroke, Harry’s influence over the family grows, in particular over Babe Brother, the youngest son. Harry introduces him to a lifestyle of drinking and gambling, and encourages him to leave his wife to join Harry and his friends on the road. However, before Babe Brother gets a chance to leave, Junior confronts him. They fight, and their mother gets stabbed in the hand trying to separate them. After taking her to the hospital, Babe Brother decides to stay with his family instead of joining Harry. When Harry comes back to collect some things, he slips on some marbles belonging to Babe Brother’s son, and dies. Soon after, Gideon gets out of his bed for the first time in months, causing the viewer to question the relationship between Harry’s presence in the house and Gideon’s sickness.
To The Workers of The World (2002)
4m; U.S.
Director: Tammy Gold
Synopsis: Tribute to workers who died at World Trade Towers in 2001.
Contact: 212-772-4953; tgold@hunter.cuny.edu tamigold@mindspring.com
Tobacco Road (1941)
84m; U.S.
Director: John Ford
Cast: Charley Grapewin, Gene Tierney and Marjorie Rambeau
Synopsis (IMDB): Shiftless Jeeter Lester and his family of hillbilly stereotypes live in a rural backwater where their ancestors were once wealthy planters. Their slapstick existence is threatened by a bank’s plans to take over the land for more profitable farming; subplots involve the affairs and marriages of son Dude and daughter Ellie May.
Tokyo Sonata (2009)
121m; Japan
Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Cast: Teruyuki Kagawa (Ryuhei Sasaki), Kyoko Koizumi (Megumi Sasaki), Yu Koyanagi (Takashi Sasaki), Kai Inowaki (Kenji Sasaki), Haruka Igawa (Kaneko), Kanji Tsuda (Kurosu), Koji Yakusho (Thief)
Synopsis (IMDB): An ordinary Japanese family slowly disintegrates after its patriarch loses his job at a prominent company.
Contact: Regent Releasing 310-806-4288 info@regentreleasing.com http://www.regentreleasing.com
Trace of Stones (1966)
139m; East Germany
Director: Frank Beyer
Cast: Manfred Krug, Krystyna Stypulkowska and Jutta Hoffmann
Synopsis (IMDB): Hannes Balla is the foreman of a group of building construction workers at the large construction site “Schkona” in the GDR. They spend most of their time working hard and drinking harder – to some they are fun, to some they are a public nuisance. Things get more complicated when the good-looking Kati Klee is employed as a young technician, and the ambitious new Party Secretary, Werner Horrath, aims to boost work efficiency and downsize Balla’s ego. Kati slowly warms up to Werner, but is also attracted to Balla’s nonconformity. A contemporary movie about work, love, and everything in between.
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