RSS

Category Archives: Arts/Culture

Tales From The Long Memory (2020)

54 minutes


Folk singing rabble-rouser U. Utah Phillips crisscrossed the country on freight trains searching for teachers. He experienced ultimate freedom, no home ahead and none behind but also the works of mercy. He discovered the dynamic struggle of people to organize themselves and demand a quality of life for themselves and those around them that provides bread, yes, but roses too.

Tales From the Long Memory follows the people who look to Utah as their teacher now while they continue the work that inspired him throughout his life. In Detroit, the Wobbly Kitchen shows how the simple act of feeding someone can spark a community of solidarity in a city struggling to rebuild its glory. In Madison, the sweet sounds of labor songs echo through the capital building every day at noon. In Portland, the Sisters of the Road Café serve up dignity and nourishment at a price you can afford. And in a quaint northern California gold rush town, a dedicated group of community members grow an idea into a house of hospitality called Utah’s Place.

Watch on Eventive at WUFF

 

Ida B. Wells: A Passion For Justice (1989)

54min

Documents the dramatic life and turbulent times of the pioneering African American journalist, activist, suffragist and anti-lynching crusader of the post-Reconstruction period. Though virtually forgotten today, Ida B. Wells-Barnett was a household name in Black America during much of her lifetime (1863-1931) and was considered the equal of her well-known African American contemporaries such as Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois.

IDA B. WELLS: A PASSION FOR JUSTICE documents the dramatic life and turbulent times of the pioneering African American journalist, activist, suffragist and anti-lynching crusader of the post-Reconstruction period. Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison reads selections from Wells’ memoirs and other writings in this winner of more than 20 film festival awards.

“Tells of the brave life and works of the 19th century journalist, known among Black reporters as ‘the princess of the press,’ who led the nation’s first anti-lynching campaign.” – New York Times

“A powerful account of the life of one of the earliest heroes in the Civil Rights Movement…The historical record of her achievements remains relatively modest. This documentary goes a long way towards rectifying that egregious oversight.” – Chicago Sun-Times

Director

 

Tags: , , , ,

About Some Meaningless Events (1974)

Not Rated; 1h 16m

In search of a subject for their film, a group of directors ask passers-by about their expectations of Moroccan cinema in the streets and bars of Casablanca.

A Suppressed Masterwork of Moroccan Political Cinema

 

Singing for Justice

Singing for Justice tells the story of Faith Petric, a political radical, community organizer and charismatic performer who united folk music and progressive causes from the 1930s through the early 2000s. Narrated largely by Faith herself, the film weaves her musical and political journeys to showcase the central role of folk music in the transformational social movements of the 20th century.

Co-director: Estelle Freedman
ebf@stanford.edu
info@singingforjustice.com

www.singingforjustice.com

 

Docs & the World

Barcelona blog devoted to social and environmental documentaries.

“We have just started a series of posts about films that deal with the question of work in capitalism. We think these films can help to build up the working class conscience so sorely needed nowadays. Unless there is a new, global working class consciousness, underprivileged classes (increasingly extended) are doomed to be crushed by the sheer destructive power of capitalism. With this post we begin an overview of documentary and fiction films that can help to build up, through denunciation and example, that conscience and solidarity more needed than ever.”

Joan Sole
 

The Acting Class

Stars Christopher Eccleston, Julie Hesmondhalgh, Maxine Peake and Samuel West talking about the barriers to success and how acting in the UK has become dominated by the posh. it’s about working-class actors struggling to get on.

It is by telling stories that a society talks to itself, finds out about itself and engages with the rest of the world. What kind of stories do we tell if only 10% of actors come from working class backgrounds?

https://theactingclass.info/

Director: Mike Wayne
1insidefilm@gmail.com

 

 

The Women Workers’ War

2013
Documentary
Italy
Director: Massimo Ferrari
54 Minutes

The story of longest factory sit-in by women–500 days–led by Rosa Giancola of Latina, and a factory that churns out sweets and thoughts, led by Margherita Dogliani of Carrara. The documentary recounts the story of two women who are very special and react in profound and non-conventional ways to the economic and moral crisis that grips Italy. The documentary won an award at the Workers Unite! Film Festival of New York.

 

I Can Quit Whenever I Want

2014
Comedy
Italy
Director: Sydney Sibilia
Writers: Valerio Attanasio, Andrea Garello, Sydney Sibilia
100 Minutes

A university researcher is fired because of the cuts to the university. To earn a living, he decides to produce drugs recruiting his former colleagues, who despite their skills are living at the margins of society.
–IMDb

 

Tony Benn: Will and Testament

2014
Documentary
England
Director: Skip Kite
Writer: Skip Kite
90 Minutes

In this unique autobiographical feature, Tony Benn – one of the UK’s most influential and charismatic political figures – presents his personal reflections on life, work, love and loss through intimate, confessional interviews, wonderfully illustrated by his personal photographic and film archives. Criss-crossing the UK, he bears witness to major social and political upheavals and events that influenced him during his life and political career.
–Written by Tony Kite

 

Shadows of Liberty

93 min – Documentary – 8 August 2013 (Germany)
Director: Jean-Philippe Tremblay

Film website

In this documentary, filmmaker Jean-Philippe Tremblay takes a journey through the darker corridors of the US media. Global conglomerates have called the shots for decades, and their overwhelming influence has distorted news journalism and compromised its values. In highly revealing stories, renowned journalists, activists, and academics give insider accounts of a broken media system. Controversial news reports are suppressed, people are censored for speaking out, and lives are shattered as the arena for public expression is turned into a private profit zone. Tracing the story of media manipulation through the years, Shadows of Liberty poses a crucial question: why have we let a handful of powerful corporations write the news?