93m; Philippines
Director: Kidlat Tahimik
Cast: Kidlat Tahimik, Mang Fely and Dolores Santamaria
Synopsis: This brilliant semi-autobiographical fable tells the story of a young Filipino born in 1942 (during the Occupation), his awakening to, and reaction against, American cultural colonialism. In his small village, Kidlat dreams of Cape Canaveral and listens to the Voice of America; he’s even the president of his village’s Werner Von Braun fan club. – http://www.lesblank.com/more/perfume.html
90m; France
Director: Jean-Pierre Thorn
Synopsis: Tells the story through hip-hop and music of the immigrant Morrocan and African youth in France and the racism that they face.
52m
Director: Bill Morrison
Synopsis (REDCAT): Since The Film of Her (1996), award-winning filmmaker Bill Morrison has completed more than 20 experimental pieces in which he poetically and rhythmically reworks archival footage in various stages of preservation or decomposition. With The Miners’ Hymns, he teams up with Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson to celebrate the culture and political struggles of the Durham collieries in northeastern England. Weaving together stunning black-and-white footage from the early 1900s through the massive 1984 strikes, the film montages different aspects of the miners’ lives—the hardship of pit work, the role of the trade unions, the tradition of the colliery brass bands and the annual Miners’ Gala in Durham.
Website: http://billmorrisonfilm.com/feature-length-films/the-miners-hymns
101m; France
Director: Julien Duvivier
Synopsis: Five unemployed workers unsuccessfully attempt to pool resources to get a music hall running.
37m; U.S.
Director: Hope Moskowitz
Synopsis: Labor’s Troubadour, a stirring documentary on the legendary labor folk singer and social historian Joe Glazer, premiered at the Smithsonian – National Museum of American History on June 18, 2005. Glazer, a national treasure, has used his guitar and gift for storytelling for over sixty years to inspire and build solidarity in the American labor movement. The film, produced and directed by Hope Moskowitz (UW,1983), weaves together archival footage, concert performances, interviews, music, news clips and photographs from Joe’s life, presenting an invaluable chronicle of the labor movement and the music that was inspired.
Contact: http://www.laborstroubadour.com/
90m; U.S.
Director: Jim Brown
Synopsis: Pete Seeger, Arlo Guthrie, Theodore Bikel, Peter Paul & Mary and more celebrate folk music as an agent of social change, and links it explicitly to today’s struggles, including the war in Iraq. Inspiring.
93m; U.S.
Director: Michael Franti
Synopsis: Musician and activist Michael Franti’s documentary on his mission of peace in the Middle East.
Contact: Alex Lawson alex.lawson@gmail.com 847.219.8393 http://www.iknowimnotalone.com/ Guerrilla Management 2180 Bryant Street STE #206 San Francisco, CA 94110 415.865.2170
38m; Franc9
Director: Mario Marret and Chris Marker
Synopsis: From 1967 to 1976 Chris Marker was a member of SLON (the “Company for the Launching of New Works”). One of several groups that emerged in those years in which filmmakers, militants, and others came together on a cooperative, parallel basis, SLON was based on the idea that cinema should not be thought of solely in terms of commerce. 1967 was also the year an important strike broke out at Rhodiaceta, a textile plant owned by the Rhone-Poulenc trust in the city of Besançon, France. The strike was unusual in character because the workers refused to disassociate the industrial conflict from a social and cultural agenda. The workers’ demands concerned not only salary and job security, but also the very lifestyle imposed on them by society. So it was only natural that Chris Marker, along with other technicians and members of SLON, would visit Besançon to document the strike, and the lives and attitudes of the workers. The film’s most important moments are composed of conversations with workers and their wives. They believe the working class is increasingly at the mercy of a system that gives them no power, a system that would like them to remain powerless. And so it was that their local demands grew into questions about the larger political system. The strikers eventually returned to work with few gains, but had developed a sense of their power, which helped lay the groundwork for May ’68, when France was rocked by revolutionary protests.
Contact: http://icarusfilms.com/new2003/bien.html
42m
Director: Robin King
Synopsis (WorldCat): “Reminiscences of John Handcox, 79 year old black poet, songwriter, and former member of the 1930’s Southern Tenant Farmers Union in Arkansas.”
56m; U.S.
Director: Mimi Pickering
Synopsis: Documentary on folksinger Hazel Dickens. Profiles a “modern” woman dealing with contemporary issues from a feminist perspective which has evolved from her own experiences, being Appalachian, displaced physically and culturally, poor and working class, a woman artist in a man’s world, and a bearer of tradition. Includes a number of complete song performances of feminist ballads and union rousers. Interweaves threads of feminism, folksinging and union organizing, though the focus is definitely more on the first two.
Contact: Pacific Film Archive Laura Deutch Outreach Coordinator Pacific Film Archive 2625 Durant Avenue Berkeley, CA 94720-2250 510/642-6883 http://www.bampfa.berkeley.edu/pfa
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