56m; U.S.
Director: David Appleby, Allison Graham, Steven Ross
Synopsis: Documents the 1968 Memphis sanitation workers’ strike and the historical forces which came together with the death of Dr. Martin Luther King. NOTE: see I Am A Man for a 10m version.
Opening Sequence
110m; U.S
Director: Colin Higgins
Cast: Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, and Dolly Parton
Synopsis (IMDB): Frank Hart is a pig. He takes advantage in the grossest manner of the women who work with him. When his three assistants manage to trap him in his own house they assume control of his department and productivity leaps, but just how long can they keep Hart tied up?
Trailer
147m; USA
Director: Hal Ashby
Cast: David Carradine, Ronny Cox and Melinda Dillon
Synopsis: Film biography of American folksinger Woody Guthrie.
Trailer
Full Film
132m; Italy
Director: Gillo Pontecorvo
Cast: Marlon Brando, Evaristo Márquez and Norman Hill
Synopsis: Pontecorvo’s follow-up to The Battle of Algiers tells a story of imperial intrigue on a fictional Portuguese “sugar and slaves” colony in the Caribbean in the 1840s. Marlon Brando plays a British agent who helps convince Jose Dolores, one of the island’s many African slaves, to lead a revolt – which temporarily aligns with the local elite and wins independence. However, the African slaves’ economic and social position remains virtually the same under the new regime. Years later, Brando’s character must return as the Africans are now revolting against their new masters. Pontecorvo uses the story as a metaphor less for any one particular historical incident, but as a left-wing commentary on the full history of slavery, empire, neo-colonialism and resistance for the past two centuries.
Opening Title
Full Film (in 12 Parts)
101m; U.K.
Director: Mark Herman
Cast: Pete Postlethwaite, Tara Fitzgerald, Ewan McGregor, Jim Carter, Sue Johnston, Stephen Moore, Ken Colley, Grimethorpe Colliery Band
Synopsis (IMDB): Laid-off miners in 90’s England. “A small Yorkshire mining town is threatened with being shut down and the only hope for the town’s men is to enter their Grimley Colliery Brass Band into a national competition. They believe they have no hope until Gloria (Tara Fitzgerald) appears carrying her Flugelhorn. At first mocked for being a woman, she soon becomes the only chance for the band to win. In joining the band she puts her relationship with her childhood sweetheart Andy (Ewan McGregor) on the line.”
Trailer
Key Scene
93m; Ital
Director: Vittorio De Sica
Cast: Lamberto Maggiorani, Enzo Staiola and Lianella Carell
Synopsis (IMDB): A poor young father in postwar-ravaged Rome who finally finds work putting up Rita Hayworth posters around town, only to have his precious bicycle stolen the first day on the job. In a light moment as the father and his young son chase after the thief, the boy attempts to relieve himself against a wall, and his father lets him know they don’t have time for that. In another scene, the father tracks the thief into the kitchen of a brothel.
Trailer
110m; UK
Director: Stephen Daldry
Cast: Jamie Bell, Julie Walters and Jean Heywood
Synopsis (IMDB): County Durham, during the endless, violent 1984 strike against the Thatcher closure of British coal mines. Widower Jackie Elliot and his firstborn, fellow miner Tony, take a dim view of 11 year-old second son Billy’s poor record in boxing class, which worsens when they discover he sneakily transferred to the neighboring, otherwise girls-only-attended ballet class. Only one schoolmate, closet-gay Michael Caffrey, encourages Billy’s desire, aroused by the teacher, who judged him talented enough for private lesson, to train and try out for the world-renowned Royal Ballet audition. Only the prospect of a fancy career unimagined in the pauper quarter may twist pa and big brother’s opposition to indispensable support.
Trailer
101m
Director: Vilgot Sjöman
Synopsis: A number of shorts about class conflict, portrait of working class youth in Sweden in the 1960s.
104m; U.S.
Director: Russ Mayberry
Cast: Linda Lavin, Richard Jaeckel, and Nicholas Pryor
14m; U.S.
Director: D.W. Griffith
Synopsis: A greedy tycoon decides, on a whim, to corner the world market in wheat. This doubles the price of bread, forcing the grain’s producers into charity lines and further into poverty. The film continues to contrast the ironic differences between the lives of those who work to grow the wheat and the life of the man who dabbles in its sale for profit.
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