107m; U.S.
Director: Arthur Hiller
Cast: Nick Nolte, JoBeth Williams and Judd Hirsch, Morgan Freeman, Laura Dern
Synopsis (IMDB): A teacher overcomes his frustration in a high-school full of flunkies. As he attempts to educate his students, his attempts to help them gets him into trouble with the school board, which only adds to his problems. With the support of his students he beats the school board and his frustration.
94m; Germany
Director: Florian Optiz
Synopsis: This film exposes the role of the IMF and World Bank by showing the effect of their policies on the lives of working people from around the world. They include an UK RMT railroad activist fighting to protect the UK railroad system, a Bolivian community activists fighting water privatization and a South African activist fighting to keep the lights on in Soweto which leads to a fight against the ANC government. This international film draws the connection of the policies of global capitalism of privatization and deregulation to the destruction of public services and the ruination of the environment and the people of the world.
Contact: Florian Opitz is a freelance documentary filmmaker, author and journalist. He was born in Saarbrücken, Germany in 1973. Since 1998 he has been working as a freelance filmmaker and journalist for several European TV stations, including for ARD, ARTE and ZDF. His work includes numerous political and historical documentaries, such as the made-for-TV features Tibet – Myth and Reality (Tibet – Mythos und Wirklichkeit, 2001) and Arabs – History of a Perceived Enemy (Die Araber – Geschichte eines Feindbildes, 2003).
flopitz@spring-productions.de http://www.thebigsellout.org
60 min; U.K.
Director: Platform Films
Synopsis: British Rail workers fight to end privatization of rail system.
Contact: Link to rail union website: http://www.rmt.org.uk/
79m; Yugoslavia
Director: Dusan Majavejev
Synopsis: Spoof on sexual politics, science, and the lowest of jobs – rat catcher – in a Socialist economy.
104m; U.S.
Director: Callie Khouri
Cast: Diane Keaton, Queen Latifah and Katie Holmes
Synopsis: Three female employees of the Federal Reserve plot to steal money that is about to be destroyed.
22:39m; available on YouTube
Night Mail is a 1936 documentary film about a London, Midland and Scottish
Railway (LMS) mail train from London to Scotland, produced by the GPO Film
Unit. A poem by English poet W. H. Auden was specially written for it, used
in the closing few minutes, as was music by Benjamin Britten. (The two men
also collaborated on a rail-documentary on the line from London to
Portsmouth, The Way to the Sea, also in 1936.)
The film was directed by Harry Watt and Basil Wright, and narrated by John
Grierson and Stuart Legg. The Brazilian filmmaker Alberto Cavalcanti was the
sound director. It starred Royal Scot 6115 Scots Guardsman.
As recited in the film, the poem’s rhythm imitates that of the train’s
wheels as they clatter over the track sections, beginning slowly but picking
up speed so that by the time the narration reaches the penultimate verse the
narrator is speaking at a breathless pace. As the train slows toward its
destination the final verse is taken at a more sedate pace. The famous
opening lines of the poem are “This is the Night Mail crossing the border /
Bringing the cheque and the postal order”.
7m; U.K.
Synopsis: Directed and produced by Mat Haywood and Lihee Avidan for Channel 4TV Two of four stories about migrant health care workers in England, the films show a brief look at how migrant workers contribute to the labour force in the NHS and the connection between working abroad and the life they have left behind. Produced with the assistance of Public Services International.
57m
Director: Sande Zeig
Synopsis (Women Make Movies): Between 1974 and 2005, a crew of women from the White Mountain Apache Tribe fought raging fires in Arizona and other states. Featuring extensive interviews, childhood photos, and on-location and news footage, this insightful and honest documentary profiles the Apache 8 group through four women, who share their experiences. Interweaving the scenes of raging fires, intense training sessions, and disrupted home life are personal stories of sacrifice, tragedy, pride, and accomplishment. While the women may have initially set out to try and earn a living in their economically ravaged community, they quickly discover an inner strength and resilience that speaks to their traditions and beliefs as Native women.
Website: http://www.wmm.com/filmcatalog/pages/c815.shtml
Director: Tom Putnam
Synopsis: BURN is a character-driven documentary about Detroit, told through the eyes of Detroiters who are on the front lines, trying to rescue and rebuild it. BURN follows the firefighters, the men and women charged with the thankless task of saving a city that many have written off as dead. We also look at the educators, the reformers, the activists, the enthusiasts — those who have the vision and the heart to bring a forgotten American dream back to Detroit.
Website: http://detroitfirefilm.org
Tom Putnam: tom@tomputnam.net
45m
Directors: Tami Gold, Dan Gordon, Erik Lewis
Synopsis (AndersonGold Films): On July 21, 1978 thousands of postal workers across the country walked off their jobs when their contract expired, saying “No” to mandatory overtime, forced speedups and hazardous working conditions. As a result of this wildcat strike, six hundred thousand postal workers won a better contract. But two hundred workers were arbitrarily fired by management to teach all postal workers a lesson.
SIGNED, SEALED and DELIVERED… is the story of the struggle these postal workers waged to win back their jobs. It follows their fight into the streets, onto the floor of the American Postal Workers Union’s National Convention and among workers and communities nationwide. But it took the tragic death of Michael McDermott, a 25 year old mailhandler who was sucked into a conveyor belt and crushed to death, to bring their hazardous working conditions to national attention.
Website: http://www.andersongoldfilms.com/films/documentaries/ssd.htm
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