RSS

Category Archives: Working Class

Divide (2011)

13 Jul

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

 
Leave a comment

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

 

Tags:

The Chaplin Revue (1959)

13 Jun

Synopsis: 1959 film comprising three silent movies made by Charlie Chaplin. The three shorts included are A Dog’s Life, Shoulder Arms and The Pilgrim. All three star Chaplin’s trademark character, The Tramp. For the 1959 release, Chaplin added a soundtrack to help appeal to modern audiences. Chaplin also added extra footage including clips from World War I to express the context. He provides a personal introduction to each of the clips. Current releases of the compilation on DVD also feature other Chaplin films produced with First National such as Sunnyside and The Bond. Introductions by David Robinson, and behind-the-scenes footage are also included.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on June 13, 2012 in Classic, Comedy, Working Class

 

The GAMA Strike – We Are Workers Not Slaves (2006)

13 Jun

60m; Ireland

Director: Socialist Party of Ireland

Synopsis (Indybay): “The GAMA Strike – We Are Workers Not Slaves” by the Socialist Party of Ireland describes how Turkish workers took on their employer, Turkish-owned multinational construction giant GAMA. Assisted by the Socialist Party (Ireland), whose members first exposed the scandalous wages and conditions being paid by GAMA to its Turkish workers, they engaged in a bitter and hard fought battle, which eventually brought GAMA to heel.

Contact: Full documentary available to view here:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8522850390691204183

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on June 13, 2012 in Available Online, Construction Trades, Documentary, Global Economy, Migrant workers, Strikes-Strikebreaking-Lockouts, Working Class

 

The Inheritors (1998)

13 Jun

95m; Germany

Director: Stefan Ruzowitzky

Contact: Simon Schwarz, Sophie Rois and Lars Rudolph

Synopsis (IMDB): Austria, a little farming valley. Beginning of the century. When one of the farmers is found murdered one day, his labourers know of nothing, but are relieved, as the tyranny has ended. Then, something new happens for the first time in history: The farm workers inherit the whole farm together, as the farmer himself was childless. Now, conflicts come up, as nobody is the boss and nobody has to obey

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on June 13, 2012 in Drama, Farm & Food, Working Class

 

The Invisible Force: Women Workers in Pakistan (2007)

13 Jun

28m; Pakistan

Director: Aisha Gazdar

Synopsis: This film highlights the issues concerning women workers in Pakistan including factory workers, domestic workers as well as home based workers, their problems are the same. Working at extremely low wages women not only face harassment on the roads but also at work, this film gives an overview of the plight of the woman worker. – http://www.filmsdart.com/yeh_hath_salamat.shtml

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on June 13, 2012 in Documentary, Women, Working Class

 

The Last Pullman Car (1984)

13 Jun

53m; U.S.
Director: Jenny Rohrer, Greg LeRoy
http://www.kartemquin.com/films/the-last-pullman-car

Synopsis: In 1864, George Pullman began selling his famous railroad sleeping cars which helped him build a vast industrial empire that was supposed to last forever. In 1981, however, Pullman workers found themselves in the midst of a fight not only for their jobs but the future of the American rail car industry. One hundred years of government, union and corporate policies are traced in this engaging story.

Contact: Available from New Day Films 22 Riverview Drive, Wayne, NJ 07470.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on June 13, 2012 in Documentary, Labor History, Manufacturing, Transportation, Working Class

 

The Murals and Art of Bernard Zakheim (2009)

13 Jun

27m; U.S.

Director: Margot Smith

Synopsis: Bernard Zakheim (1896 – 1985) was born in Poland and came to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1918. He was well known for his many murals and frescos financed in part by the Works Progress Administration under Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s 1930s New Deal. Nathan and Masha Zakheim, Bernard’s son and daughter, tell of their father’s work in Poland, the story of the Coit Tower murals, of his Holocaust paintings and his later work celebrating life. Murals shown here include The Library at Coit Tower, The Jewish Wedding at the San Francisco Community Center, and The History of Medicine in California at Toland Hall, University of California, San Francisco.

Contact: offcentervideo@aol.com http://www.offcentervideo.com

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on June 13, 2012 in Arts/Culture, Documentary, Immigrants/Immigration, Working Class

 

The Oldest New River (1980)

13 Jun

21m; U.S.

Synopsis: A trip back in time to the early days of the New River Community, Thurmond, WV. Once a larger raildroad town than Cincinatti, Thurmond and the local area was a booming coal mining region. Many of the buildings no longer exist. Slowly, the area is slipping into the growing forest. See film “Thurmond.” Background: In 1980 Steve Fesenmaier and Ken Sullivan traveled to John Dragon’s Class IV whitewater company on the New River. Dragon gave them a U-matic video copy of a recent TV show made in North Carolina about Thurmond. Fesenmaier and film archivist Richard Fauss worked together to have the film transferred to 16 mm film for showing around the state.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on June 13, 2012 in Documentary, Environment, Working Class

 

Tags:

The Promotion (2008)

13 Jun

85m; U.S.

Director: Steve Conrad

Synopsis (Wikipedia): Doug Stauber (Seann William Scott) is the assistant manager of a branch of Donaldson’s, a supermarket chain in Chicago. He believes that he is a “shoo-in” for manager of a Donaldson’s that is scheduled for construction just a few blocks away from his home. Everyday, Doug deals with the pressures of being the assistant manager. Among his ordeals are an unruly gang of black teenagers loitering around the parking lot, the overwhelming amount of negative comments on the customer survey cards he collects (nearly all of which are caused by the gang’s antics), a foreigner who constantly slaps him over a box of Teddy Grahams and the rumors about him being a former Junior Olympics medalist in gymnastics. Then one day, Richard Wehlner (John C. Reilly) and his family move in from Quebec, and he becomes assistant manager alongside Doug.

Over the course of the film, the two men fight for the managerial job, trying to impress the store’s manager Scott (Fred Armisen) and the Donaldson’s board of directors (led by Mitch, played by Gil Bellows). The competition causes strain on their respective marriages. Doug is under financial pressure to get the job because he has begun to buy a house that he cannot afford if he is not promoted while his wife Jen (Jenna Fischer) ponders on going to night school. Meanwhile, Richard’s wife Laurie (Lili Taylor) and daughter leave him to temporarily move to her parents’ home in Scotland when she sees he is losing control and reverting to previous problem behavior.

Contact: http://www.thepromotionmovie.com/

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on June 13, 2012 in Comedy, Working Class

 

The Proud Valley (1940)

13 Jun

76m; U.S.

Director: Pen Tennyson

Cast: Paul Robeson, Edward Chapman and Simon Lack

Synopsis: Paul Robeson stars as a black miner in Wales. Filmed on location in the South Wales coalfield the heart of the main coal mining region of Wales, Proud Valley documents the hard realities of Welsh coal miners’ lives. Robeson’s part is based on the real-life adventures of a Black miner from West Virginia who drifts to Wales by way of England, searching for work. Robeson sings “Deep River” at a Welch music festival.

 
Leave a comment

Posted by on June 13, 2012 in Drama, Working Class

 

Tags: ,

← Older posts
Newer posts →