105m; U.S.
Director: Connie Field & Marilyn Mulford
Synopsis: Documentary about the civil rights movement, focusing on the Mississippi Freedom Summer voter registration project.
Category Archives: Organizing
Bullet Bargaining at Ludlow (1964)
20m; U.S.
Synopsis: Recounts an infamous chapter in Colorado history when militia and striking coal miners clashed on the plains of south Colorado at Ludlow.
The Burning Season (1994)
123m; U.S.
Director: John Frankenheimer
Synopsis: This film is based on the life story of Brazilian rubber tapper, environmentalist, and union leader Chico Mendes who led a movement of indigenous rubber tappers in the Brazilian Amazon in struggle against powerful Brazilian rancher interests and multinational corporations and institutions.
Brothers on the Line (2012)
A stirring portrait of the lives and legacy of the Reuther Brothers -Walter, Roy and Victor, pioneering labor leaders under the banner of the United Auto Workers Union. Directed by Victor’s grandson, Sasha Reuther and narrated by Martin Sheen, the film follows the brothers as they rise from militant shop-floor organizers to visionary statesmen in collective bargaining, civil rights and international labor solidarity. Brothers on the Line weaves the tale of one family’s quest to compel American democracy to live up to its promises of equality for all.
Director: Sasha Reuther, sasha@brothersontheline.com
http://www.brothersontheline.com
Porter Street Pictures
Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin (2008)
83m; U.S.
Director: Nancy D. Kates, Bennett Singer
Synopsis: Biography of Bayard Rustin, a socialist and pacifist activist involved in labor struggles and who became a key adviser to Martin Luther King, Jr. (including serving as the lead organizer for the 1963 March on Washington). Film also explores the constant conflicts Rustin was forced into given treatment of homosexuals.
Contact: http://rustin.org/
Breyani and The Councillor (2006)
22m; South Africa
Director: Sally Giles & Fazel Khan
Synopsis: Struggle for decent housing/jobs in Durban, South Africa
Burn! (1969)
132m; Italy
Director: Gillo Pontecorvo
Cast: Marlon Brando, Evaristo Márquez and Norman Hill
Synopsis: Pontecorvo’s follow-up to The Battle of Algiers tells a story of imperial intrigue on a fictional Portuguese “sugar and slaves” colony in the Caribbean in the 1840s. Marlon Brando plays a British agent who helps convince Jose Dolores, one of the island’s many African slaves, to lead a revolt – which temporarily aligns with the local elite and wins independence. However, the African slaves’ economic and social position remains virtually the same under the new regime. Years later, Brando’s character must return as the Africans are now revolting against their new masters. Pontecorvo uses the story as a metaphor less for any one particular historical incident, but as a left-wing commentary on the full history of slavery, empire, neo-colonialism and resistance for the past two centuries.
Opening Title
Full Film (in 12 Parts)
Bread and Roses (2000)
110m; U.S.
Director: Ken Loach
Cast: Pilar Padilla, Adrien Brody and Elpidia Carrillo
Synopsis (IMDB): Maya is a quick-witted young woman who comes over the Mexican border without papers and makes her way to the LA home of her older sister Rosa. Rosa gets Maya a job as a janitor: a non-union janitorial service has the contract, the foul-mouthed supervisor can fire workers on a whim, and the service-workers’ union has assigned organizer Sam Shapiro to bring its “justice for janitors” campaign to the building. Sam finds Maya a willing listener, she’s also attracted to him. Rosa resists, she has an ailing husband to consider. The workers try for public support; management intimidates workers to divide and conquer. Rosa and Maya as well as workers and management may be set to collide.
Trailer
A. Philip Randolph: For Jobs and Freedom (1996)
86m; U.S.
The Attorney General of the United States called A. Philip Randolph “the most dangerous Negro in America.” He forced President Roosevelt to integrate the armed forces, won the first-ever contract for a Black union when he organized the Pullman porters and was the moving force behind the historic 1963 March on Washington.
All That I Love (2009)
95m; Poland
Director: Jacek Borcuch
Synopsis: Set in 1981, just as Poland’s Solidarity movement was about to become an active force for social and political change, writer-director Jacek Borcuch’s film blends elements of an American ’80s teen sex comedy, a Romeo and Juliet-style romance and raucous punk rock into a thoroughly winning story. In an industrial port town on the Baltic coast, Jacek (Mateusz Kosciukiewicz), the teenaged son of a navy captain, and his friends court controversy by forming a punk rock band. Jacek begins a tentative romance with schoolmate Basia (Olga Fryz), whose father is a union leader. As events come to a head, and the young lovers find their families in opposition, Jacek and his band, backed by the town’s youth, take a stand for freedom.
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