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Category Archives: Documentary

Struggles in Steel: The Fight for Equal Opportunity (1996)

07 May

58m; U.S.

Director: Tony Buba, Raymond Henderson

Cast: Raymond Henderson, Dennis C. Dickerson and Katrina Heiss

Synopsis (IMDB): This documentary tells the forgotten story of the African-American struggle for equality in the U.S. steel industry (based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania). In a series of interviews intermixed with archival footage and stills, we learn how these workers faced and overcame discrimination that came from white workers, the big steel companies, and even from their own unions.

Contact: www.braddockfilms.com 412-681-5449

 
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Posted by on May 7, 2012 in Blacks, Documentary, Organizing

 

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Sudden Wake (2009)

07 May

11m; Egypt

Director: Mahmud Farag

Synopsis: The story of the struggle of Egypt’s first independent trade union – the Real Estate Tax Authority Union (RETA). RETA was formed in December 2008, one year after tax collectors there held a two-week sit-in in front of the Cabinet Building. They face constant harrassment from the Egyptian government as well as the country’s official labour federation, the ETUF.

Contact: Hamza Ashra

 
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Posted by on May 7, 2012 in Collective Bargaining, Documentary, Politics, Public Sector

 

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Sugar (2008)

07 May

120m; U.S.

Director: Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck

Cast; Algenis Perez Soto, Rayniel Rufino and Andre Hollan

Synopsis: By 2008, more than 25 percent of major league baseball players were born in Latin America. At 19, Miguel “Sugar” Santos, a serious kid from the Dominican Republic, signs with Kansas City. He flies to Phoenix for tryouts and is sent to the Class A team “The Swing” in the fictional town of Bridgetown, Iowa, where he lives with a farm family. Thus begins his odyssey: leaving his mom and girlfriend; living in an alien culture; learning English; overcoming jitters; working hard; achieving early success; navigating friendships, occasional racism, and a woman’s mixed signals; dealing with an injury; trying performance-enhancing drugs; and, searching for his place in the world. Will he make it to the Majors; will he play in New York?

 
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Posted by on May 7, 2012 in Documentary, Immigrants/Immigration, Sports

 

Suicide Jumpers (2007)

07 May

13m; Lebanon

Director: Herbert Docena

Synopsis: Exploitation of domestic workers in Lebanon during 2006 Israeli assaults

 
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Posted by on May 7, 2012 in Documentary, Service Workers, War

 

Sunset Story (2003)

07 May

73m; U.S.

Director: Laura Gabbert

Synopsis (IMDB): Lucille and Irja are retired residents of Sunset Hall, a Los Angeles home for the elderly. Residents of Sunset Hall are retired radicals; they have retired from work but not from protesting against injustice. Bitter Lucille considers herself a realist. Wheelchair-bound Irja is sunny and optimistic. Lucille was raised a Jew but always aspired to assimilate. Irja wants to explore all sorts of new traditions. Through the lives of these women, Sunset Story shows the life at Sunset Hall: teachers, a dancer, an engineer, a social worker, and others, all living out their golden years in a unique environment.

 
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Posted by on May 7, 2012 in Communism/Socialism, Documentary, Women

 

Surviving the Good Times (2000)

07 May

A Bill Moyers report
During the longest economic expansion in American history, many people had never had it so good. But for others, the boom only resulted in working longer hours at lower wages simply to keep up. This eye-opening program tells the story of the Neumanns and Stanleys, two working families in Milwaukee whose efforts to make ends meet in the new global economy reveal what life was like for millions of Americans during that period. Filmed over ten years, this intimate documentary captures their struggle to cope with economic upheaval and to keep their families intact with both parents working, children facing challenges in school and in the street, and family values being threatened by problems with no easy solutions. (2 parts, 67 minutes and 50 minutes)
Available from Films Media Group
Also available online on Vimeo

 
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Posted by on May 7, 2012 in Cities-Urban, Documentary, Global Economy, Working Class

 

Sweatshop Cinderella (2010)

07 May

27m; U.S.

Director: Suzanne Wasserman

Synopsis: The story of Anzia Yezierska, a Jewish American writer whose family settled on the Lower East Side, where she toiled in sweatshops and laundries.

Contact: Suzanne Wasserman swasserman@gc.cuny.edu http://gothamcenter.org/cinderella/

 
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Posted by on May 7, 2012 in Documentary, Women, Working Class

 

Sweet Dreams (2006)

07 May

105m; U.S.

Director: Eric Scott Latek

Synopsis: 27-year-old boxer Gary “Tiger” Balletto attempts to unionize the sport.

Contact: Eric Scott Latek; ericlatek@phantazmapictures.com; 401-270-3768; 401-556-5197

 
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Posted by on May 7, 2012 in Collective Bargaining, Documentary, Organizing, Sports

 

Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo (2009)

07 May

120m; U.S.

Director: Bradley Beesley

Synopsis: Since 1940, the Oklahoma State Penitentiary has held an annual rodeo in which inmates compete, to the delight of thousands of spectators. Since 2006, female inmates have been allowed to take part. Many of them are young mothers, separated from their families because of drug-related crimes. The rodeo poses the real possibility of lifelong injury, especially for these amateurs with only minimal training, but both women and men participate to relieve the intense boredom of prison life. This two-hour, heartbreaking documentary introduces some of them, and in the process provides a poignant portrait of the inhumanity of the U.S. prison system.

 
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Posted by on May 7, 2012 in Documentary, Legal System, Sports, Women

 

The Corporation (2003)

07 May

145m; U.S.

Director: Mark Achbar, Jennifer Abbott

Cast: Mikela J. Mikael, Rob Beckwermert and Christopher Gora

Synopsis (IMDB): Since the late 18th century American legal decision that the business corporation organizational model is legally a person, it has become a dominant economic, political and social force around the globe. This film takes an in-depth psychological examination of the organization model through various case studies. What the study illustrates is that in the its behaviour, this type of “person” typically acts like a dangerously destructive psychopath without conscience. Furthermore, we see the profound threat this psychopath has for our world and our future, but also how the people with courage, intelligence and determination can do to stop it.

 
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Posted by on May 7, 2012 in Documentary, Global Economy, Labor History, Outsourcing

 
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