143m; Japan
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Synopsis: Kanji Watanabe is a longtime bureaucrat in a city office who, along with the rest of the office, spends his entire working life doing nothing. He finds that he has a terminal cancer and decides to intensively live his last months of life.
Synopsis: Mexico City transit workers commandeer a streetcar and expose the contradictions of capitalism. Spanish with English subtitles.
96m; U.S.
Director: Esau Melendez
Synopsis: Using the resistance of illegal immigrant Elvira Arellano, the film documents the rise of the pro-immigrant movement in Chicago.
76m; U.S.
Director: Georg Koszulinski
Synopsis: Immokalee U.S.A. examines the lives of the individuals who make up the small migrant farming community of Immokalee, Florida.
Contact: koszulinski@gmail.com 352-491-2960 (Cell)
135m;
Director: Ulrich Seidl
Cast: Ekateryna Rak, Paul Hofmann, Michael Thomas, Maria Hofstätter, Georg Friedrich, Natalija Baranova, Natalia Epureanu, Petra Morzé, Dirk Stermann, Erich Finsches
Synopsis: This dark comedy is about the crossing stories of a Ukrainian nurse (import) and a maladjusted Viennese security man (export).
Contact: (http://importexport.ulrichseidl.com/en/) Sarah Wilby 45a rathbone Street London W1T 1NW, GB, T +44 20 7580 0222 F +44 20 7580 0333 sarahwilby@mac.com
84m; Mexico
Director Juan Carlos Rulfo
Synopsis: Absorbing documentary about work and the transformation of men into laborers through story of construction crew.
155m; France
Director: Xavier Giannoli
Synopsis: France, present day. A professional conman passes himself off as the boss of a construction site building a highway extension. He cons the whole region, hires dozens of workers and cynically enjoys the profits of his scam until he meets the lady mayor of a small village that the road will go through. She intrigues and unsettles him, before revealing to him a world he never knew: feelings. How far will he go now to save his victims and save himself from his own lies?
58m; U.S.
Director: Jack Kelly
Cast: Michael Martin
Synopsis: Jack Kelly directed, wrote and produced this comprehensive documentary about the Southern WV coal mine wars. It is narrated by Kelly and local actor Michael Martin who also acts in some of the recreations. Using archival footage, photographs, and historic songs, Kelly recreates the world of coal mining in the area. He interviews the descendants of people on both sides – the children of coal mine owners and the children of coal miners. Some of the people interviewed include black coal miner Sug Hawkins, Cecil Roberts (not UMWA president), and William Becker. The nephew of Tom Felts of the Baldwin-Felts Agency and a son of an owner are also interviewed. The film goes back to the first days of coal mining in WV, which started in 1871 in the New River area near Beckley. By 1896, 26 million tons of coal from the Pocahontas Field was being shipped all over the country to power the developing industrial age. 14 millionaires lived in Brawell. Around 1900 many miners from Europe were brought to the coal fields, segregated in their own sections of the company towns. 80 % of all coal in WV was mined in company towns. The coal mine owners felt they had a divine right to do whatever was necessary to build their companies in “the wilderness.” Most of the film focuses on the struggle between miners and the oppressive reality of life in company towns where all behavior was closely controlled by the miner owners. Key events such as The Matewan Massacre and The Battle of Blair Mountain are analyzed. Dr. Fred Barkey, a well-known WV labor historian, and industry historian Dr. C. Stuart McGehee provided the historical information. Executive producer Donn Rogosin, station manager of WSWP-TV.
16m; U.S.
Director: Encyclopedia Brittanica Educational Corporation
Synopsis: Study of Detroit as an automotive industrial city.
16m; U.S.
Director: Encyclopedia Brittanica Educational Corporation
Synopsis: An analysis of some of the implications of automation in a mass-production factory. The film points out that automation can free the worker but it poses a challenge to retrain and adjust to changing circumstances.
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