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Category Archives: Safety & Health

Buffalo Creek Flood and Buffalo Creek Revisited (1984)

31m; U.S.

Director: Mimi Pickering

Synopsis: Appalshop filmmaker Mimi Pickering returns to Buffalo Creek, West Virginia to look at the recovery of the community after one of the worst coal mine-related disasters in history. Ken Hechler, then a U.S. Congressman from WV, but not that district, is interviewed in the office of WVLC Film Services. From the film’s website – Filmed ten years after the flood, Buffalo Creek Revisited looks at the second disaster on Buffalo Creek, in which the survivors’ efforts to rebuild the communities shattered by the flood are thwarted by government insensitivity and a century-old pattern of corporate control of the region’s land and resources. Through the statements of survivors, planners, politicians, psychologists, and community activists, the film explores the psychology of disaster, the importance of community, and the paradox of a poor people living in a rich land.

 
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Posted by on January 31, 2012 in Documentary, Politics, Safety & Health

 

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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


 

 

A Civil Action (1998)

115m; U.S.

Director: Steven Zaillian

Cast: John Travolta, Robert Duvall, Tony Shalhoub, William H. Macy 

The families of children who died sue two companies for dumping toxic waste: a tort so expensive to prove, the case could bankrupt their lawyer.

 
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Posted by on January 24, 2012 in Drama, Safety & Health, Whistleblowers

 

Alice: A Fight for Life (1982)

120m; U.K.

Director: John Willis & Peter Jones

Synopsis: A broadcast highlighting health and safety concerns affecting factory workers. Alice is 47. She worked in an asbestos factory when young. She now suffers from mesothelioma, an asbestos caused cancer. She fights for her life and her rights.

 
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Posted by on January 24, 2012 in Documentary, Safety & Health, Women

 

America and Lewis Hine (1984)

60m; U.S.

Director: Nina Rosenblum

Synopsis (IMDB): Documentary about early 20th-century photographer Lewis Hine, who helped to expose grim working conditions in American factories and mines, especially the abuse and exploitation of children by their employers. Later, he became the official photographer for the construction of the Empire State Building

 

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American Dream (1990)

98m; U.S.

Director: Barbara Kopple 

Synopsis (IMDB): Chronicles the six-month strike at Hormel in Austin, Minnesota, in 1985-86. The local union, P-9 of the Food and Commercial Workers, overwhelmingly rejects a contract offer with a $2/hour wage cut. They strike and hire a New York consultant to manage a national media campaign against Hormel. Despite support from P-9’s rank and file, FCWU’s international disagrees with the strategy. In addition to union-company tension, there’s union-union in-fighting. Hormel holds firm; scabs, replacement workers, brothers on opposite sides, a union coup d’état, and a new contract materialize. The film asks, was it worth it, or was the strike a long-term disaster for organized labor?  Won the Oscar in 1990 for Best Documentary.

 

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Angadi Theru (2010)

148m; India

Director: Vasanthabalan

Synopsis: Jyothi Lingam (Mahesh) is a bright student and son of a mason who leads a happy life in his village near Tirunelveli. One day tragedy strikes as his father the only earning member dies in an accident while crossing an unmanned railway gate and the young boy now has to look after his mother and two sisters. Mahesh, along with hundreds of others, works at the Senthil Murugan Stores run by the big Annachi where 50 to 60 sales boys and girls work in pitiable conditions from early in the morning to late at night, without any rest. He meets Kani (Anjali), a fiery, independent girl. Angadi Theru is about how these two survive in concentration camp-like conditions and what happens when fate smiles cruelly at them. This film is considered to be a milestone in Tamil cinema due its raw content.

 
 

Appalachia: No Man’s Land (1981)

28m; U.S.

Synopsis: Filmed in Mingo County, WV. and Martin County, Ky, this documentary interviews the natives, organizers, and poets of Appalachia who were directly affected by coal mining in the area. Intereviews are inter cut with the scenes of destruction. Floods, black lung, and uncontrolled strip mining disasters resulted from the activities in the area and huge multinational corporations continue to be primary forces in the area. The postscript lists results of the arc land ownership study just published. Stars Wheeling Jesuit University president Rev. Hacala.

 
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Posted by on January 24, 2012 in Documentary, Safety & Health

 

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Bananas (2009)

80m; Sweden

Director: Fredrik Gertten

Synopsis: The human cost of banana cultivation is revealed in this documentary chronicling the case of Nicaraguan laborers, represented by L.A. attorney Juan Dominguez, against the companies who they believe poisoned them with pesticides.

Contact: International Sales: Peter Jager, peter@autlookfilms.com Phone: +43 720 34 69 34 film@wgfilm.com David Magdael & Associates – Los Angeles Winston Emano, wemano@tcdm-associates.com David Magdael, dmagdael@tcdm-associates.com Phone: +1 213 624 7827 http://www.bananasthemovie.com/

 
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Posted by on January 24, 2012 in Documentary, Farm & Food, Safety & Health

 

Below the Belt

Synopsis: Downsized workers