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Category Archives: Education

The Son (2002)

07 May

103m; Belguim

Director: Jean-Pierre Dardenne, Luc Dardenne

Cast: Olivier Gourmet, Morgan Marinne and Isabella Soupart

Synopsis (IMDB): Olivier – meticulous, careful, even-handed – teaches carpentry at a vocational school in Liège. He’s asked to take on Francis, 16, a new student. He declines the request then begins to watch, even spy on, the new lad. Olivier knows something. Later that day, he’s visited by Magali, his ex-wife, who tells him that she’s remarrying and is pregnant. Olivier seems to follow instinctive responses: “why today?” he demands of Magali; he continues to follow Francis; he changes his mind about enrolling the youth. What’s the history between the two? After that becomes clear, what is it Olivier will do? Is this precise and measured carpenter in control of himself?

 
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Posted by on May 7, 2012 in Children, Construction Trades, Drama, Education

 

South Riding (2011)

07 May

 

Cast: Anna Maxwell Martin, David Morrissey and Penelope Wilton

Synopsis (IMDB): Set in the 1930s, Britain is in depression and still scarred by the effects of World War I. Young and passionate Sarah Burton returns to her conservative home-county, bursting with modern ideas. As the new headmistress in South Riding, she inspires her girls –including Lydia Holly, a scholarship student from the slums– to think for themselves. But not everyone sees eye-to-eye with Miss Burton. She finds a few allies, Joe Astell being one; but the sparks really start to fly when she crosses paths with Robert Carne, a haughty landlord whom she despises.

 
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Posted by on May 7, 2012 in Education, Women, Working Class

 

The Stars Look Down (1940)

07 May

110m; U.K.

Director: Carol Reed

Cast:  Michael Redgrave, Margaret Lockwood and Edward Rigby

Synopsis (IMDB): Davey Fenwick leaves his mining village on a university scholarship intent on returning to better support the miners against the owners. But he falls in love with Jenny who gets him to marry her and return home as local schoolteacher before finishing his degree. Davey finds he is ill-at-ease in his role, the more so when he realises Jenny still loves her former boyfriend. When he finds that his father and the other miners are going to have to continue working on a possibly deadly coal seam he decides to act.

 
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Posted by on May 7, 2012 in Drama, Education, Romance, Working Class

 

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Sugar Cane Alley (1983)

07 May

103m; France

Director: Euzhan Palcy

Cast: Garry Cadenat, Darling Légitimus and Douta Seck

Synopsis (IMDB): Martinique, in the early 1930s. Young José and his grandmother live in a small village. Nearly everyone works cutting cane and barely earning a living. The overseer can fine a worker for the smallest infraction. The way to advance is to do well in school. José studies hard and succeeds in an exam allowing him to attend school in the capital. With only a partial scholarship, the tuition is very costly. José and his grandmother move to Fort-de-France to make José’s studies easier.

 
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Posted by on May 7, 2012 in Children, Drama, Education, Farm & Food

 

Teachers (1984)

07 May

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.

 
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Posted by on May 7, 2012 in Comedy, Drama, Education, Public Sector

 

San Francisco State: On Strike (1969)

26 Apr

20m; U.S.

 
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Posted by on April 26, 2012 in Documentary, Education, Strikes-Strikebreaking-Lockouts

 

Land, Rain, and Fire (2006)

20 Apr

28m; Mexico

Director: Tami Gold

What began as a teacher’s strike in May of 2006 against privatization and for better wages and more resources for students, erupted into a massive movement for profound social change in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. Government repression brought even greater popular resistance, which ultimately brought the state government to a standstill.

 
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Posted by on April 20, 2012 in Documentary, Education, Organizing, Strikes-Strikebreaking-Lockouts

 

Living Wage 101 (2005)

20 Apr

25m; U.S.

Director: Georgetown Solidarity Committee

Synopsis: Documentary chronicling the 5 year campaign of Georgetown campus workers and students to win a living wage for many campus workers, including the 2005 10-day hunger strike which won a historic living wage policy.  Documentary is intended in part to help inspire and educate other students to organize similar campaigns on their campuses.

Contact: View the film here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQRaJvyDzo0

 
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Posted by on April 20, 2012 in Available Online, Documentary, Education, Immigrants/Immigration, Organizing, Service Workers, Streaming Online (Youtube, Vimeo)

 

Manito (2002)

20 Apr

78m; U.S.

Director: Eric Eason

Cast: Leo Minaya, Jessica Morales and Franky G

Synopsis (IMDB): Fifteen years ago, their Washington Heights neighborhood was dubbed the crack-cocaine capital of the world, but today it is transforming into one of the most vibrant, Spanish-speaking communities in the United States. While the drug dealers continue to disappear, their violent legacy still casts a shadow over the neighborhood and its residents. Junior, an ex-convict struggling to get his life back on track, is a product of this legacy. His younger brother Manny, the salutatorian of his high school class, embodies the hope of the future. On the night of his graduation party, Manny finds himself faced with an ill-fated decision that could change his life forever.

 
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Posted by on April 20, 2012 in Drama, Education, Immigrants/Immigration, Working Class

 

Moi et mon Blanc (2003)

20 Apr

90m; Burkina Faso/France

Director: S. Pierre Yameogo

Cast: Serge Bayala, Pierre-Loup Rajot and Anne Roussel

Synopsis (IMDB): Mamadi is struggling to complete a doctorate at a Parisian university after the government of his country has stopped paying his scholarship. Thanks to his acquaintances in the African community, he finds a job as night watchman in an underground car park. There, a French colleague, Franck, helps the friendly African academic getting around. However, the car park is also a meeting point for dubious characters, and when Mamadi accidentally wrecks a drug trafficking operation, Franck is really hard-pressed to put his pal and himself out of harm’s way. Wouldn’t Mamadi’s home country be the ideal place to escape the gangsters’ wrath

 
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Posted by on April 20, 2012 in Crime-Action, Drama, Education, Immigrants/Immigration

 

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