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Category Archives: Documentary

Citizen Koch (2013)

27 Jan

90 min  –  Documentary | Drama  –  January 2013 (USA)
Directors: Carl Deal, Tia Lessin
Writers: Carl Deal, Tia Lessin
Stars: Floyd Abrams, Paul Booth, James Bopp

Set against the rise of the Tea Party in the aftermath of the US Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United ruling, a citizen uprising to recall Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker collides with the Tea Party-aligned “Americans for Prosperity,” a group founded and lavishly financed by two of the world’s richest men —David and Charles Koch. As Republican working class voters find themselves in the crosshairs of their own party and its billionaire backers, they are forced to choose sides. Directed by Academy Award®-nominated directors Carl Deal & Tia Lessin (Trouble the Water; co-producers Fahrenheit 911 and Capitalism: A Love Story). [Watch Trouble the Water here: www.troublethewaterfilm.com]

America — they’re coming for you next. That’s the warning from a Wisconsin state employee after her union rights were destroyed by a Republican governor funded by corporate and billionaire donors whose ultimate goal is to break the unions nationwide — and cripple the labor-backed Democratic party. “Citizen Koch” explores what the Wisconsin playbook and the U.S. Supreme Court decision that unleashed a new era of unbridled special-interest spending mean for us all. And it poses a crucial question: Who owns democracy in America? 90 minutes.

 

 
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Posted by on January 27, 2015 in Big Business/Corporations, Collective Bargaining, Documentary, Finance, Global Economy, Politics, Public Sector

 

Union Women, Union Power: From the Shopfloor to the Streets 

27 Jan

30 min
Filmmakers: Dina Yarmos and Sandra Jeong-In Lane

Highlighting five rank and file union women from different sectors across Philadelphia, “Union Women Union Power” introduces viewers to recent fights for democracy in Philadelphia workplace. The film was produced to spur intergenerational dialogue and engage younger women in the labor movement.

 
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Posted by on January 27, 2015 in Cities-Urban, Documentary, Organizing, Streaming Online (Youtube, Vimeo), Women

 

Mother Jones: ‘The Most Dangerous Woman in America’

27 Jan

9 minutes
by Jeff Manning

 
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Posted by on January 27, 2015 in Documentary, Immigrants/Immigration, Industrial/Mine/Manufacturing, Labor History, Strikes-Strikebreaking-Lockouts, Women, Working Class

 

Century of Women

27 Jan

on garment workers, 1909 strike, Triangle, 15 minutes

 
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Posted by on January 27, 2015 in Documentary, Immigrants/Immigration, Labor History, Streaming Online (Youtube, Vimeo), Strikes-Strikebreaking-Lockouts, Textile Industry, Women, Working Class

 

The Song of the Shirt (1979)

27 Jan

song-of-the-shirt

16mm, 135 min, black & white
Directors Sue Clayton
Jonathan Curling
Production Company Film & History Project
BFI Production Board
Script Sue Clayton
Jonathan Curling
Music Lindsay Cooper

Cast: Martha Gibson, Geraldine Pilgrim, Anna McNiff, Liz Myers, Jill Greenhalgh, Sally Cranfield, Alfred Molina

Show full cast and credits

An investigation into the position of working women in the 1840s, the effects of protectionist ‘philanthropy’ and the resistance to it. Explores the plight of a group of women working in the new ‘sweated’ clothes trade in London.

Show full synopsis
Originally intended as a history of the welfare state, as well as a contribution to debates on feminist history, issues of free trade against philanthropy and capitalist expansion against protectionism, The Song of the Shirt became a subject of debate in itself, not least thanks to its four-year gestation.Many different groups, including Women’s Aid and the Feminist History Project, were involved during this long production period, and as a result the final film had a broader agenda (and therefore audience) than was originally planned. While it still addresses ideas of feminist history and Marxist theory, it can also be read as a rather more ambitious project that fuses the history of fashion, literacy and sexuality.

It is constructed as a documentary, although the use of multiple-screen effects, monitors displaying text and projected backdrops constantly disrupts the flow of information. Few dates are revealed in the film, forcing us to address the arguments rather than the chronology. It moves back and forth between locations and eras, juxtaposed in such a way as to highlight the contradictions in the labour market. Close-ups of women and characters in the dramatised scenes are avoided, and in the tribunal sequence the figure-of-eight camera movements suggest aimlessness.

The women’s readings, both singly and in groups, are based on a story that appeared in the magazine Notes to the People. ‘A Page for the Ladies’ argues that all classes of women are oppressed. Women of different classes read the text in different ways, with other voices of workers and political writers given equal footing with the text.

The Song of the Shirt‘s combination of relentless political content and a dislocated and disruptive presentation makes it stand out from its contemporaries in its ambition to present a genuinely feminist independent film. Co-director Sue Clayton, a graduate of the Royal College of Art, has continued to explore these themes through her work with the Independent Filmmakers’ Association and Screen magazine.

Emma Hedditch
http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/496441/

 

 

 
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Posted by on January 27, 2015 in Discrimination: Racism, Sexism, etc, Documentary, Experimental, Industrial/Mine/Manufacturing, Labor History, Textile Industry, Women, Working Class

 

Dis-Connecting People

27 Jan

(35 mins: 18 Secs)
Watch the film here.

Finnish Company Nokia Corporation set up its largest mobile phone assembling plant in Sriperumbadur Taluk of Kancheepuram District in Tamil Nadu in 2005. Attracted by the tax concessions offered under Special Economic Zone Act 2005, resource subsidies and an army of cheap labour, Nokia found it profitable to assemble phones in India and sell them globally. In just 5 years the plant produced 500 million phones. It hired over 12,000 workers with majority being young women.

After profiting for 8 years, the company now faces charges of  evading taxes to the Indian Government in thousands of crores. Imminent closure of the factory and loss of employment looms large for thousands of workers.

The film documents the voices of workers that have remained largely muted in the din of tax battle between the corporation and the State. They share there experiences of working in Nokia; the happy times of being ‘connected’; of building dreams of becoming ‘middle class’; their fears, anxiety and anger of being ‘dis-connected’ suddenly by the company that they helped ‘profit’ with their hard work; and their resolve to fight for their employment.

For more information contact: Nokia India Thozhilalar Sangam at nokianits@gmail.com

 
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Posted by on January 27, 2015 in Big Business/Corporations, Communications, Documentary, Global Economy, Streaming Online (Youtube, Vimeo)

 

Still the Enemy Within (AKA “The Enemy Within”)

26 Jan

2014 * Documentary * England * 112 minutes
Director/writer: Owen Gower
Sinead Kirwan, Producer: sinead.kirwan@bad-bonobo.com
Tel: 00447914412037 or 004915902169012
Skype: sineadrk
Follow us on Twitter @enemywithin1984
http://www.facebook.com/stilltheenemywithin

This riveting documentary revisits the front lines of one of the most bitterly fought strikes of the late 20th century—the 1984-1985 British Miners’ Strike. Told from the perspectives of the miners, their families and supporters, it incorporates rarely used archival footage with interviews, providing fresh insights to a dramatic, brutal, and heartbreaking yet inspiring struggle. Thirty years after the strike to prevent mine closures and the decimation of miners’ communities, Still the Enemy Within is a compelling reminder of everyday people’s power through organization and collective action—and the limitations when confronted by the force of the Thatcher administration and the British government.

 
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Posted by on January 26, 2015 in Big Business/Corporations, Collective Bargaining, Documentary, Genre, Industrial/Mine/Manufacturing, Labor History, Legal System, Manufacturing, Occupation/Type of Work, Organizing, Politics, Safety & Health, Strikes-Strikebreaking-Lockouts, Themes, Women, Working Class

 

The Women Workers’ War

24 Jan

2013
Documentary
Italy
Director: Massimo Ferrari
54 Minutes

The story of longest factory sit-in by women–500 days–led by Rosa Giancola of Latina, and a factory that churns out sweets and thoughts, led by Margherita Dogliani of Carrara. The documentary recounts the story of two women who are very special and react in profound and non-conventional ways to the economic and moral crisis that grips Italy. The documentary won an award at the Workers Unite! Film Festival of New York.

 
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Posted by on January 24, 2015 in Arts/Culture, Collective Bargaining, Documentary, Farm & Food, Industrial/Mine/Manufacturing, Labor History, Manufacturing, Occupation/Type of Work, Organizing, Strikes-Strikebreaking-Lockouts, Themes, Women, Working Class

 

Tony Benn: Will and Testament

24 Jan

2014
Documentary
England
Director: Skip Kite
Writer: Skip Kite
90 Minutes

In this unique autobiographical feature, Tony Benn – one of the UK’s most influential and charismatic political figures – presents his personal reflections on life, work, love and loss through intimate, confessional interviews, wonderfully illustrated by his personal photographic and film archives. Criss-crossing the UK, he bears witness to major social and political upheavals and events that influenced him during his life and political career.
–Written by Tony Kite

 
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Posted by on January 24, 2015 in Arts/Culture, Biography, Class, Collective Bargaining, Documentary, Education, Labor History, Philosophy, Politics, Themes, Unemployment-Wages, Working Class

 

Fly to Transcend

24 Jan

Documentary
China
Director: Tu Qiao
90 Minutes

This is a story about Tian Yu, one of the survivors of the shocking “13 jump” suicides at Foxconn, the primary manufacturer of Apple products. The documentary reflects on the background and deeper causes of the tragedy from the perspectives of international relations, globalization, Chinese local government, and internal enterprise management, and with academic experts as well as media. After three years of silence Tian Yu finally spoke up to tell us the truth. Tian Yu today is an outstanding woman who is passionate about life, independent, and eager to help others. She has not only found love, but also hopes to be able to raise her kids like any normal person.

 

 
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Posted by on January 24, 2015 in Class, Communications, Documentary, Global Economy, Industrial/Mine/Manufacturing, Labor History, Manufacturing, Migrant workers, Occupation/Type of Work, Technology, Women, Working Class

 
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