40m; U.K.
Director: Toby Reisz
Synopsis: Profile of filmmaker Ken Loach’s life and his work.
Category Archives: Working Class
Cartoneros (2006)
60m; U.S.
Director: Ernesto Livon-Grosman
Synopsis: Economic crises forces Argentinian middle class into ranks of the Buenos Aires trash pickers.
Contact: Brittany Gravely, brittany@der.org 800.569.6621 http://www.cartonerosdoc.com/Cartoneros.html
The Catered Affair (1956)
92m; U.S.
Director: Richard Brooks
Cast: Bette Davis, Ernest Borgnine and Debbie Reynolds
Synopsis: At breakfast, Jane announces that she and Ralph are getting married the next week. All Jane and Ralph want is a small wedding with the immediate family and no reception. This is because Janes parents are poor and Jane and Ralph can borrow a car for their honeymoon. However, at dinner that night all Ralph’s parents talk about are the big weddings they gave their daughters and everything escalates. All of a sudden, it is a big wedding breakfast with hundreds of guests. The problem is that for 12 years, Tom has been saving money to buy his own cab and license, but now that he can, all of his money is going towards a wedding neither he, or Jane or Ralph really want.
China Blue (2005)
86m; U.S.
Director: Micha X. Peled
Synopsis: Young Chinese garment workers: the human cost of cheap jeans.
Contact: micha1teddybearfilms@earthlink.net
Chocolate City (2007)
46m; U.S.
Director: Ellie Walton and Sam Wild
Synopsis: Closing of a DC housing project destroys low-income community; using art of organize.
Contact: Sam Wild sam.sky.wild@googlemail.com
http://samwild.wordpress.com
Christ in Concrete (aka Give Us This Day) [1949]
120m; U.K.
Director: Edward Dmytryk
Synopsis: Italian immigrant Germenio (blacklisted American actor Sam Wanamaker), exploits his fellow workers in dangerous construction work in order to provide for his own family. Set in NYC’s Little Italy (but shot entirely in England!), this compelling working class drama was the only film made by director Dmytryk after he refused to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee and before he became a “friendly” witness. immigrants; construction workers
The Church on Dauphine Street
84m; U.S.
Director: Rustin Thompson
Synopsis: New Orleans congregation rebuilds after Hurrican Katrina, with help from union craftsmen.
The Churning (1976) (aka Manthan)
Directed by Shyam Benegal
India
The word manthan literally means deep contemplation, churning of facts, analysis aimed at solution or conclusion. The film manthan meaning the Churning) is a 1976 Hindi film made by Shyam Benegal, based on a story written jointly by Dr. Verghese Kurien (the Father of the White Revolution in India) and director Shyam Benegal. It is set amidst the backdrop of the White Revolution of India (Operation Flood) which started in 1970, ushering an era of plenty, from a measly amount of milk production and distribution. Aside from the great measurable success that this project was, it also demonstrated the power of “collective might”.
The film traces the origins of the movement through its fictionalized narrative, based around rural empowerment, when a young veterinary surgeon, played by Girish Karnad, a character based on then, National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) chief, the 33 year old Dr. Verghese Kurien,[7] who joined hands with local social worker, Tribhovandas Patel, which led to the setting up a local milk cooperative, in Anand, Gujarat.
In the film, Dr. Rao, comes to a village, to set up a dairy cooperative, which upsets not just the middlemen, who were hitherto exploiting the villagers, but also the age-old feudal structure of the village, soon an uprising is sparked among the local untouchables, which leads to an economic revolution as well. (Wikipedia)
Cinderella of the Cape Flats (2004)
58m; South Africa
Director: Jane Kennedy
Synopsis: Everyday the women of South Africa’s garment industry labor in anonymity to create clothes that make other women look beautiful. At their Annual Spring Pageant, however, the workers get to wear the clothes they make. Set during the days leading up to the pageant, Cinderella of the Cape Flats celebrates the lives of these hard-working women. Screens with Being Pavarotti.
Contact: email: jane@trinityproductions.co.za Land line: +27 21 7885667 Mobile: +27 82 4450696
City of Cigars (2006)
28m; Nicaragua
Director: Jens Pederson
Synopsis: In Northern Nicaragua, in the city of Estilí, Luz and her colleagues make beautiful cigars that are sold worldwide. While it’s common knowledge that one dies from smoking it’s less known that the production of tobacco is equally dangerous to the health.
Contact: jjp@net.dialog.dk (+45) 40757172 (Work)
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