Directed By: Julia Reichert
Runtime: 50 min
Stars: Kate Hyndman, Stella Nowicki, Sylvia Woods
Synopsis: actions of the time and the current state of the labor movement. Accompanied by a lot of vintage folk music.
Category Archives: Strikes-Strikebreaking-Lockouts
Union Maids (1976)
Harlan County USA (1976)
Directed by: Barbara Kopple
Running Time: 103 min
Starring: Norman Yarborough, Houston Elmore, Phil Sparks
Website: N/a
Synopsis: A filmed account of a bitterly violent miner strike.
Native Land (1942)
Directed by: Leo Hurwitz & Paul Strand
Running Time: 1hr 20 min
Starring: N/A
Website
Synopsis:In dramatizations, we see a farmer beaten for speaking up at a meeting, a union man murdered in a boarding house, two sharecroppers near Fort Smith Arkansas shot by men deputized by the local sheriff, a spy stealing the names of union members, and a dead Chicago union man eulogized.
A combination of a documentary format and staged reenactments, the film depicted the struggle of trade unions against union-busting corporations, their spies and contractors. It was based on the 1938 report of the La Follette Committee‘s investigation of the repression of labor organizing.
Famous African-American singer, actor and activist Paul Robeson participated as an off-screen narrator and vocalist.
The Dalfram Dispute 1938
http://www.thedalframdispute1938.com.au/
On November 15, 1938 the steamship Dalfram berthed at No. 4 jetty Port Kembla to load pig iron for Kobe, Japan. Ted Roach, Branch Secretary, addressed the men at the labour pick up for the Dalfram. He told the men of the destination of the pig iron and the use of the pig iron in the use of weapons – first to be used against the Chinese and they feared that eventually – against Australia.
At 11 am the men walked off the ship declaring they refused to load pig iron for Japan to turn into weapons. It led to an eleven week lock-out, with incredible pressure being applied by the government of the day. On the 11th of January 1939, Robert Menzies Attorney General at the time, came to Wollongong to sort out the dispute. He met with an angry crowd where a lady screamed out Pig Iron Bob for the first time. It lasted his lifetime.
Sandra Pires <sandra@whydocumentaries.com.au
In Dubious Battle (2016)
Based off the John Steinbeck novel: an activist gets caught up in the labor movement for farm workers in California during the 1930s.
Director: James Franco
Resistencia: The Fight for the Aguan Valley
Director: Jesse Freeston
Writers: Diego Briceño-Orduz (story), Jesse Freeston
me@jessefreeston.com
http://resistenciathefilm.com/
In 2009, the first coup d’etat in a generation in Central America overthrows the elected president of Honduras. A nation-wide movement, known simply as The Resistance, rises in opposition. Resistencia: The Fight for the Aguan Valley centers on the most daring wing of the movement, the farmers of the Aguan. Not satisfied with just marching and blocking highways, 2000 landless families take possession of the palm oil plantations of Miguel Facusse, the country’s largest landowner and a key player in the coup. The camera follows three farmers over four years as they build their new communities on occupied land, in the face of the regime’s violent response, while waiting for the elections The Resistance hopes will restore the national democratic project.
Cast in India (2014)
26 min, USA/India, 2014
Dir. Natasha Raheja
Iconic and ubiquitous, thousands of manhole covers dot the streets of New York City. Enlivening the everyday objects around us, this short film is a glimpse of the working lives of the men behind the manhole covers in New York City.
Natasha Suresh Raheja nraheja@nyu.edu
For The War To End The Walls Should Have Crumbled (Pour que la guerre s’achève, les murs devaient s’écrouler)
1980
52 min
dir. Jean- Pierre and Luc Dardenne
Looking back to the momentous events of Belgium’s general strike in 1960, the film focuses on the efforts of Edmond G. and colleagues at the Cockerill steel plant in Seraing to organise and secretly publish a workers’ newspaper between 1961 and 1969.
Sherpa (2015)
96 min | Documentary | 2 October 2015 (USA)
Director/writer: Jennifer Peedom
A fight on Everest? It seemed incredible. But in 2013 news channels around the world reported an ugly brawl at 21,000ft as European climbers fled a mob of angry Sherpas. In 1953, New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay had reached the summit in a spirit of co-operation and brave optimism. Now climbers and Sherpas were trading insults – even blows. What had happened to the happy, smiling Sherpas and their dedication in getting foreigners to the top of the mountain they hold so sacred? Determined to explore what was going on, the filmmakers set out to make a film of the 2014 Everest climbing season, from the Sherpas’ point of view. Instead, they captured a tragedy that would change Everest forever. At 6.45am on 18th April, 2014, a 14 million ton block of ice crashed down onto the climbing route through the Khumbu Icefall, killing 16 Sherpas. It was the worst tragedy in the history of Everest. The disaster provoked a drastic reappraisal about the role of the Sherpas in the Everest industry. SHERPA, tells the story of how, in the face of fierce opposition, the Sherpas united in grief and anger to reclaim the mountain they call Chomolungma.
‘Sherpa’ Delves Into a Risky Profession The documentary makers, who were at Mount Everest when 16 sherpas died in an ice avalanche in 2014, explore the tensions between these guides and their wealthy clients.
THE LABOR FILM DATABASE 