Women | THE LABOR FILM DATABASE

Northern Light (2013)

105 min  –  Documentary | Drama | Family  –  1 March 2013 (USA)
Directors:  Nick Bentgen, Lisa Kjerulff
Writers:  Nick Bentgen, Lisa Kjerulff

Set against the backdrop of a town’s annual snowmobile race, this cinematic, observational documentary explores the American working class experience.

NORTHERN LIGHT interweaves the lives of three families in the northwoods of Michigan. Set against the backdrop of a town’s annual snowmobile race, this cinematic, observational documentary explores the American working class experience. As racers and their families pin their hopes to a 500 mile-long test of endurance, small triumphs and giant sacrifices are made along the way. From a frozen corner of the country emerge three American families.

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Posted by Labor Film Database on January 27, 2015 in Class, Drama, Unemployment-Wages, Women, Working Class

The Song of the Shirt (1979)

27 Jan

16mm, 135 min, black & white

Directors	Sue Clayton
	Jonathan Curling
Production Company	Film & History Project
	BFI Production Board
Script	Sue Clayton
	Jonathan Curling
Music	Lindsay Cooper

Cast: Martha Gibson, Geraldine Pilgrim, Anna McNiff, Liz Myers, Jill Greenhalgh, Sally Cranfield, Alfred Molina

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An investigation into the position of working women in the 1840s, the effects of protectionist ‘philanthropy’ and the resistance to it. Explores the plight of a group of women working in the new ‘sweated’ clothes trade in London.

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Originally intended as a history of the welfare state, as well as a contribution to debates on feminist history, issues of free trade against philanthropy and capitalist expansion against protectionism, The Song of the Shirt became a subject of debate in itself, not least thanks to its four-year gestation.Many different groups, including Women’s Aid and the Feminist History Project, were involved during this long production period, and as a result the final film had a broader agenda (and therefore audience) than was originally planned. While it still addresses ideas of feminist history and Marxist theory, it can also be read as a rather more ambitious project that fuses the history of fashion, literacy and sexuality.

It is constructed as a documentary, although the use of multiple-screen effects, monitors displaying text and projected backdrops constantly disrupts the flow of information. Few dates are revealed in the film, forcing us to address the arguments rather than the chronology. It moves back and forth between locations and eras, juxtaposed in such a way as to highlight the contradictions in the labour market. Close-ups of women and characters in the dramatised scenes are avoided, and in the tribunal sequence the figure-of-eight camera movements suggest aimlessness.

The women’s readings, both singly and in groups, are based on a story that appeared in the magazine Notes to the People. ‘A Page for the Ladies’ argues that all classes of women are oppressed. Women of different classes read the text in different ways, with other voices of workers and political writers given equal footing with the text.

The Song of the Shirt‘s combination of relentless political content and a dislocated and disruptive presentation makes it stand out from its contemporaries in its ambition to present a genuinely feminist independent film. Co-director Sue Clayton, a graduate of the Royal College of Art, has continued to explore these themes through her work with the Independent Filmmakers’ Association and Screen magazine.

Emma Hedditch
http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/496441/

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Posted by Labor Film Database on January 27, 2015 in Discrimination: Racism, Sexism, etc, Documentary, Experimental, Industrial/Mine/Manufacturing, Labor History, Textile Industry, Women, Working Class

Still the Enemy Within (AKA “The Enemy Within”)

26 Jan

2014 * Documentary * England * 112 minutes
Director/writer: Owen Gower
Sinead Kirwan, Producer: sinead.kirwan@bad-bonobo.com
Tel: 00447914412037 or 004915902169012
Skype: sineadrk
Follow us on Twitter @enemywithin1984
http://www.facebook.com/stilltheenemywithin

This riveting documentary revisits the front lines of one of the most bitterly fought strikes of the late 20th century—the 1984-1985 British Miners’ Strike. Told from the perspectives of the miners, their families and supporters, it incorporates rarely used archival footage with interviews, providing fresh insights to a dramatic, brutal, and heartbreaking yet inspiring struggle. Thirty years after the strike to prevent mine closures and the decimation of miners’ communities, Still the Enemy Within is a compelling reminder of everyday people’s power through organization and collective action—and the limitations when confronted by the force of the Thatcher administration and the British government.

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Posted by jckozlowski on January 26, 2015 in Big Business/Corporations, Collective Bargaining, Documentary, Genre, Industrial/Mine/Manufacturing, Labor History, Legal System, Manufacturing, Occupation/Type of Work, Organizing, Politics, Safety & Health, Strikes-Strikebreaking-Lockouts, Themes, Women, Working Class

The Women Workers’ War

24 Jan

2013
Documentary
Italy
Director: Massimo Ferrari
54 Minutes

The story of longest factory sit-in by women–500 days–led by Rosa Giancola of Latina, and a factory that churns out sweets and thoughts, led by Margherita Dogliani of Carrara. The documentary recounts the story of two women who are very special and react in profound and non-conventional ways to the economic and moral crisis that grips Italy. The documentary won an award at the Workers Unite! Film Festival of New York.

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Posted by jckozlowski on January 24, 2015 in Arts/Culture, Collective Bargaining, Documentary, Farm & Food, Industrial/Mine/Manufacturing, Labor History, Manufacturing, Occupation/Type of Work, Organizing, Strikes-Strikebreaking-Lockouts, Themes, Women, Working Class

Fly to Transcend

24 Jan

Documentary
China
Director: Tu Qiao
90 Minutes

This is a story about Tian Yu, one of the survivors of the shocking “13 jump” suicides at Foxconn, the primary manufacturer of Apple products. The documentary reflects on the background and deeper causes of the tragedy from the perspectives of international relations, globalization, Chinese local government, and internal enterprise management, and with academic experts as well as media. After three years of silence Tian Yu finally spoke up to tell us the truth. Tian Yu today is an outstanding woman who is passionate about life, independent, and eager to help others. She has not only found love, but also hopes to be able to raise her kids like any normal person.

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Posted by jckozlowski on January 24, 2015 in Class, Communications, Documentary, Global Economy, Industrial/Mine/Manufacturing, Labor History, Manufacturing, Migrant workers, Occupation/Type of Work, Technology, Women, Working Class

Istanbul Rising

24 Jan

2013
Documentary
18 Minutes
Vice News

The effort to protect the privatization of Gezi Park in Istanbul touched off one of the biggest protests and demonstrations in Turkey. This film shows how the people tried to protect the park from developers and property speculators who the AKP Prime Minister Erdogan represents.

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Posted by jckozlowski on January 24, 2015 in Available Online, Cities-Urban, Class, Documentary, Labor History, Occupation/Type of Work, Politics, Streaming Online (Youtube, Vimeo), Strikes-Strikebreaking-Lockouts, Themes, Women, Working Class

Eat Sleep Die

19 Nov

2012
Directed by Gabriela Pichler
Sweden
104 mins

Nermina Lukac’s electrifying performance as Raša is the heart of director Gabriela Pichler’s feature debut. A Montenegrin-born young woman living in rural Sweden, Raša is laid off from her job at a food-packing plant. Her ensuing job search pulls us through the maze of limited prospects and frustrating bureaucracy facing the country’s working immigrant population. Affable, resilient, street smart and soft-hearted, Raša’s natural magnetism draws us in completely. We feel every ounce of her disappointment, fear and elation as she soldiers on, looking for work. An Audience Award winner at the Venice Film Festival, EAT SLEEP DIE’s assured naturalism and political conviction single out Pichler as a bold, exciting new cinematic voice. Her film is a positive rallying cry for low-wage workers who dream of a life that won’t merely add up to the three verbs that form the film’s title.
– Mike Dougherty, American Film Institute

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Posted by Labor Film Database on November 19, 2014 in Class, Comedy, Discrimination: Racism, Sexism, etc, Drama, Farm & Food, Immigrants/Immigration, Industrial/Mine/Manufacturing, Legal System, Unemployment-Wages, Women, Working Class

Tangled Threads

29 Jun

“Tangled Threads” chronicles labor rights activist Kalpona Akter’s organizing efforts in Bangladesh’s garment industry before and after the Rana Plaza building collapse, which claimed the lives of at least 1,138 garment workers. It does so against the backdrop of two very different worlds: New York’s modeling industry, on the one hand, and Bangladesh’s garment industry, on the other. Produced by STZFilms.

Directed by: Sara Ziff

Sara Ziff is a New York-based filmmaker, fashion model, and labor activist. She co-directed and produced the feature documentary “Picture Me” (2009), which shed light on labor issues in the modeling industry, particularly sexual abuse. Currently she serves as co-founder and executive director of the Model Alliance, a nonprofit labor group for models working in the American fashion industry. Ziff first traveled to Bangladesh in 2012, when she began collaborating with the Bangladesh Center for Worker Solidarity (BCWS) and the International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF) to try to organize workers across fashion’s supply chain.

https://www.facebook.com/stzfilms

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Posted by andrew765 on June 29, 2014 in Arts/Culture, Big Business/Corporations, Cities-Urban, Class, Consumerism, Documentary, Industrial/Mine/Manufacturing, Retail, Safety & Health, Textile Industry, Women, Working Class

Tags: working conditions

Never Got A Dime

28 Jun

Never Got a Dime is the story of Lilly Ledbetter, a former manager at Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company in Gadsden, Alabama. On January 29, 2009, President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which extended the statute of limitations to reset 180 days after each discriminatory paycheck is issued. Ledbetter will always be remembered as a champion of women’s rights and equal pay.

Directed by: Shelby Hadden

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Posted by andrew765 on June 28, 2014 in Documentary, Women

Tags: equal pay for equal work, womens rights

The Real Rosie the Riveter Project

28 Jun

This archive of filmed oral histories was created by filmmakers Anne de Mare, Kirsten Kelly and Elizabeth Hemmerdinger under the guidance of the irreplaceable Dr. Michael Nash. The 48 women represented here provide a complex portrait of Rosie the Riveter, taking the viewer beyond the iconic “We Can Do It” poster girl and deep into the experiences real Rosies from diverse backgrounds, challenging the popular perception of women in American History. The filmmakers were inspired by the extraordinary women of The Real Rosie The Riveter Project to develop this material into an animated documentary project using new media technologies called The Girl With The Rivet Gun.

Directed by: Kirsten Kelly, Anne de Mare

http://dlib.nyu.edu/rosie/node/1029