41m; U.S.
Director: Sharon Lockhart
Synopsis: Companion film to Lunch Break (2008, 80 min., HD); here, Lockhart reverses the gaze, with a fixed camera and a nod to Lumière.
Category Archives: Documentary
The One Percent (2006)
doc; 80m, US
Directed by Jamie Johnson
In this hard-hitting but humorous documentary, director Jamie Johnson takes the exploration of wealth that he began in Born Rich one step further. The One Percent, refers to the tiny percentage of Americans who control nearly half the wealth of the U.S. Johnson’s thesis is that this wealth in the hands of so few people is a danger to our very way of life. Johnson captures his story through personal interviews with Robert Reich, Adnan Khashoggi, Bill Gates Sr., and Steve Forbes, during which both Johnson’s and his subjects’ knowledge and humor shine. And he’s not afraid to butt heads with Milton Friedman, the economist who coined the term “the trickledown effect.” He also shows how the other half lives, using real-world examples of the wealth gap: he takes a tour of a dilapidated housing project in Chicago, rides around with an enlightened taxi driver, and sees the human toll of the unfair economics of the Florida sugar industry. Johnson’s film is at its most powerful when it reveals how the super-rich work to preserve their own monetary dominance. As a member of the “Johnson & Johnson” family, he gets rare access to an exclusive wealth conference at which the über rich learn strategies for preserving their fortunes, and learns the personal management styles of some of the countries wealthiest employers. No great society has survived such a massive wealth gap; who knows if ours will? Written by Schafer, Nancy on IMDB
Degrees of Shame (1997)
U.S.
30m
Director: Barbara Wolff
Synopsis: Exploitation of part-time faculty in American higher education.
In 1960 Edward R. Murrow made a television documentary about the plight of migrant farm workers. Harvest of Shame examined the working conditions and economic realities of those least respected but absolutely vital workers in the agricultural industry, the harvesters.
To Barbara Wolf, a Cincinnati-based video documentarian, the economic situation and working conditions of adjunct professors suggested an information economy parallel to migrant farm workers. As with migrant farm workers, hiring of adjuncts is often done at the last minute, the extremely low pay is based on the number of courses taught, there are no benefits, there is no job security, and many adjuncts teach at more than one institution (often in different cities) trying to piece together a living.
Following the logic of Harvest of Shame, Ms. Wolf interviews a variety of adjunct faculty, who make visible the working lives of these faculty members who now do more than 40% of the teaching in America’s institutions of higher education. Interviews with university administration officials, union leaders, legislators, and other observers document both the problem and possible solutions.
Murrow concluded Harvest of Shame by asking his viewers to cultivate “an enlightened, aroused and perhaps angered public opinion” and to demand a change. Wolf sees her documentary as both informational and, in Murrow’s tradition, as a tool for change.
order from:
Barbara Wolf Video Work
1709 Pomona Court
Cincinnati, Ohio 45206
Phone (513) 861-2462
Br_wolf@hotmail.com
Body of War (2007)
87m; U.S.
Director: Phil Donahue, Ellen Spiro
Synopsis (IMDB): The story of an injured American veteran returning home from the war Iraq is set against the backdrop of a critical indictment of the government’s handling of the U.S.-led invasion.
Bonecrusher (2009)
72m; U.S.
Director: Mike Fountain
Synopsis (IMDB): In the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, a young coal miner toils a mile underground. Despite the harsh working conditions, Lucas Chaffin takes fierce pride in doing the job once done by the man he loves more than anything, his father. Lucas’ father, nicknamed “Bonecrusher,” was a strong, handsome man. Now he’s withered and sick; coal dust has ravaged his lungs. As life slips away, his greatest concern isn’t for himself; it is for Lucas’ safety. Bonecrusher is an intimate and moving account of the love between a father and son and the powerful bond they share, a bond that is put to the test.
Contact: WriteBrain Films 888-612-6224; info@writebrainfilms.com http://www.writebrainfilms.com
Bound By Promises: Contemporary Slavery in Rural Brazil (2006)
17m; Brazil
Director: Christine Umali
Synopsis: Story of men who set out in search of work and are taken to isolated ranches in Brazil, only to find that they have been lured into debt bondage.
Contact: christine@witness.org 718 783 2000 x.342 (Work)
Building Hope
Synopsis: Documentary about the history of community development corporations and their origins in community protest.
Buffalo Creek Flood and Buffalo Creek Revisited (1984)
31m; U.S.
Director: Mimi Pickering
Synopsis: Appalshop filmmaker Mimi Pickering returns to Buffalo Creek, West Virginia to look at the recovery of the community after one of the worst coal mine-related disasters in history. Ken Hechler, then a U.S. Congressman from WV, but not that district, is interviewed in the office of WVLC Film Services. From the film’s website – Filmed ten years after the flood, Buffalo Creek Revisited looks at the second disaster on Buffalo Creek, in which the survivors’ efforts to rebuild the communities shattered by the flood are thwarted by government insensitivity and a century-old pattern of corporate control of the region’s land and resources. Through the statements of survivors, planners, politicians, psychologists, and community activists, the film explores the psychology of disaster, the importance of community, and the paradox of a poor people living in a rich land.
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