Category Archives: Documentary
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
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
Citizen McCaw (2008)
78m; U.S.
Director: Sam Taylor
Synopsis: The film chronicles events from July 2006, when editor Jerry Roberts and five of his colleagues quit the Santa Barbara News-Press, citing owner and co-publisher Wendy McCaw’s abandonment of journalistic ethics, which McCaw denied. Since then, McCaw and dozens of her former staffers have been engaged in a fierce clash of wills that raises important national questions of journalistic ethics and media ownership. McCaw’s attorneys assert that she alone can decide how news is covered. The other side, represented by journalists and community leaders, says that journalism is a public trust, asserting that the publisher must keep out of the news operation. Citizen McCaw shows the struggle for reporters and newspaper workers rights in an atmosphere of terror as a new newspaper owner seeks to clamp down the stories that must be told. This received national publicity when the owner McCaw fired and slandered the newspaper workers.
Contact: www.citizenmccaw.com
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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