Politics | THE LABOR FILM DATABASE

Divide (2011)

22m; U.S.

Director: Michael T. Miller and Maura Ugarte

Synopsis: When it comes to politics, retired coal miner Sebert Pertee sees one big problem: the rich keep getting richer while working people lose ground. As he canvasses for pro-union candidates in 2008, he finds his community more focused on the race of the Democratic presidential nominee than on their own interests.

In McDowell County, West Virginia, long a union and Democratic Party stronghold, the battle for white working-class voters is taking an ugly turn. As politicians and pundits fan the racial flames, Sebert finds that race-baiting has long been a tried and true tactic to divide the miners. He’s determined to change the conversation, even if it rankles his neighbors. Race-baiting and union values collide in this short film, as Sebert struggles to take the fight to the real enemy.

Contact: http://dividethemovie.com/?page_id=2

Trailer

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Posted by iwwggrandson on July 13, 2012 in Blacks, Documentary, Politics, Working Class

Tags: Mining

The Coca Cola Case (2009)

13 Jun

85m; Colombia/Canada

Director: Carmen Garcia & Germán Gutiérrez

Synopsis: Colombia is the trade union murder capital of the world. Since 2002, more than 470 workers’ leaders have been brutally killed, usually by paramilitaries hired by private companies intent on crushing the unions. Among these unscrupulous corporate brands is the poster boy for American business: Coca-Cola. Talk to Martin Gil: His brother Isidro was killed at point-blank range while working at the Coca-Cola bottling plant in Carepa, because he was part of a union bargaining unit. Like most violent crimes committed against Colombian union leaders, Gil’s murder went unpunished. However, U.S. lawyers Daniel Kovalik and Terry Collingsworth, as well as activist Ray Rogers, stepped in and launched an ambitious crusade against the behemoth Coca-Cola. In an incredible three-year saga, filmmakers German Gutierrez and Carmen Garcia follow these heroes in a legal game of cat and mouse. From Bogota to New York, Guatemala to Atlanta, Washington to Canada, The Coca-Cola Case maintains the suspense of a hard-fought struggle. The lawyers filed several cases at the U.S. federal court against Cola-Cola for murder, abduction and torture committed in Colombia and Guatemala. Thanks to activist Ray Rogers, they also attacked the brand image of the Atlanta-based giant, with the devastating Campaign to Stop Killer Coke, causing dozens of U.S. colleges and universities to remove Coke products from campuses.

Contact: http://www.thecoca-colacase.org/

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Posted by iwwggrandson on June 13, 2012 in Documentary, Politics, War

Tags: Strikebreaking

The Curious Case of the Missing Recovery (2010)

13 Jun

13m; Canada

Director: Michael Connolly

Synopsis: “Stanfordo” searches far and wide for answers to a mystery that continues to baffle hard-working Canadians. How can the federal government and Bank of Canada proclaim an economic recovery when hundreds of thousands of workers are still jobless, and millions are still reeling from one of the worst downturns since the Great Depression?

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Posted by iwwggrandson on June 13, 2012 in Documentary, Politics, Unemployment-Wages

Tags: Government

The Garden (2008)

13 Jun

80m; U.S.

Director: Scott Hamilton Kennedy

Cast: Danny Glover, Daryl Hannah and Antonio Villaraigosa

Synopsis (IMDB): The 14 acre community garden in South Central Los Angeles was the largest of it’s kind in the United States. It was started as a form of healing after the devastating L.A. riots in 1992. Since that time, the South Central Farmers have created a miracle in one of the country’s most blighted neighborhoods. Growing their own food. Feeding their families. Creating a community. But now bulldozers threaten their oasis. The Garden is an unflinching look at the struggle between these urban farmers and the City of Los Angeles and a powerful developer who want to evict them and build warehouses.

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Posted by iwwggrandson on June 13, 2012 in Cities-Urban, Documentary, Farm & Food, Politics

The Mall (2006)

13 Jun

13m; Israel

Director: Yonatan Ben Efrat

Synopsis: At one of central Israel’s largest junctions, in a surreal underground world, live hundreds of Palestinian workers in hiding in order to find a day’s work and bring something home to their families in the West Bank. Deep in the concrete skeleton of an abandoned shopping mall, the workers sleep during the week. Those who have been arrested in the past confirm that the mall is worse than jail, yet they don’t ask for freedom – they only want a day’s work.

Contact: 2009 Geneva Labour Film Shorts Festival World Health Organisation and Video 48

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Posted by iwwggrandson on June 13, 2012 in Documentary, Migrant workers, Politics, Service Workers

The Times of Harvey Milk (1984)

13 Jun

90m; U.S.

Director: Rob Epstein

Synopsis: In 1978, Harvey Milk was elected to the San Francisco city council, becoming the first openly gay person to be elected to public office in California. One year later, he and Mayor George Moscone were shot and killed by Milk’s fellow council member, former police officer and firefighter Dan White. Won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. Includes discussion of Milk’s early alliance with the Teamsters in taking on Coors Beer.

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Posted by iwwggrandson on June 13, 2012 in Documentary, Labor History, Organizing, Politics

Tags: Sex/Sexuality

They Were Not Silent: The Jewish Labor Movement and the Holocaust (1998)

13 Jun

30m; U.S.

Director: Roland Millman

Synopsis (Wikipedia): They Were Not Silent is a documentary about the Jewish Labor Committee’s anti-Nazi movement in America before, during and after World War II. The film features rare archival footage and photographs along with interviews with labor veterans, Holocaust survivors and scholars. It explores how international Jewry worked to help Jews and non-Jews in Germany, Poland, and elsewhere in Europe.

Contact: Gail Malmgreen 212-998-2636 gail.malmgreen@nyu.edu

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Posted by iwwggrandson on June 13, 2012 in Documentary, Labor History, Organizing, Politics, War