100m; Canada
Director: Gordon Pinsent
Cast: Gordon Pinsent, Jackie Burroughs and Randy Follett
Synopsis (IMDB): A small Canadian town is devasted when a local mine–the town’s only source of income–is closed. One man incurs the wrath of the townsmen when he stubbornly refuses the small amount of settlement money offered by the government
58m; U.S.
Director: Anne Lewis
https://store.appalshop.org/shop/appalshop-films/justice-in-the-coalfields/
Synopsis: This film by labor videographer Anne Lewis documents this militant strike and occupation of the company’s factory. Over 4,000 miners and their families were arrested in this struggle against union busting and the massive use of scabs to break the union and destroy the medical benefits of 1,500 pensioners, widows and disabled miners. Hundreds of state police were involved in escorting the scabs in this effort. The union also faced a $64 million dollar fine from State and Federal judges that was used to weaken the union nationally and was supported by Clinton’s NLRB Chair Bill Gould.
93m; France/Germany
Director: Georg Wilhelm Pabst
Synopsis: Plea against war and for friendship between peoples, through the story of French miners rescued by German colleagues after a firedamp explosion. G. W. Pabst directed this German film based on a real event that took place on the France-German border in 1906 when 1100 miners were killed. German miners came to the rescue of the French miners who were trapped underground. It was the first work of art banned by Hitler when he became chancellor. It is famous for its both realist and expressionist photography
120m; Belguim
Director: Thierry Michel
Synopsis: After Mobutu, King of Zaire and Congo River, the Belgian director Thierry Michel pursues his exploration of Central Africa. His new documentary, entitled Katanga Business, is a kind of political economic thriller, which takes place in this south-eastern province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, one of the world’s richest regions in mining resources. While the inhabitants of Katanga continue to live in extreme poverty, multinationals are rivalled by China, newly arrived with its billions of dollars. Staged on economic war, Katanga Business is a tale of globalisation.
Contact: http://ks29982.kimsufi.com/katanga-lefilm/ films@passerelle.be
120m
Director: Russ Barbour
Synopsis: As a Congressman and WV Secretary of State, professor/author, and environmental activist,Ken Hechler changed the face of West Virginia and national politics starting in 1958 when he was first elected to Congress. Highlights include interviews with many celebrities including Senators George McGovern, Robert Dole, Tom Harkin, James Symington and John Brademas.
France
Director: Bertrand Tavernier
Synopsis: Depressed coalmining region of France
19m; India
Synopsis: A health and safety film used by the Indian National Mineworkers’ Federation to educate workers about the consequences of not following health and safety rules and best practices. The film’s use of local language, traditions and entertainment value has proved successful in reaching workers in the mining sector that often come from rural or agrarian backgrounds. Jaan Hai to Jahan Hai is one of several documentaries the INMF has been actively involved in producing regarding workers’ health and safety.
Contact: INMF 2009 Geneva Labour Film Shorts Festival
58m; U.S.
Director: Jack Kelly
Cast: Michael Martin
Synopsis: Jack Kelly directed, wrote and produced this comprehensive documentary about the Southern WV coal mine wars. It is narrated by Kelly and local actor Michael Martin who also acts in some of the recreations. Using archival footage, photographs, and historic songs, Kelly recreates the world of coal mining in the area. He interviews the descendants of people on both sides – the children of coal mine owners and the children of coal miners. Some of the people interviewed include black coal miner Sug Hawkins, Cecil Roberts (not UMWA president), and William Becker. The nephew of Tom Felts of the Baldwin-Felts Agency and a son of an owner are also interviewed. The film goes back to the first days of coal mining in WV, which started in 1871 in the New River area near Beckley. By 1896, 26 million tons of coal from the Pocahontas Field was being shipped all over the country to power the developing industrial age. 14 millionaires lived in Brawell. Around 1900 many miners from Europe were brought to the coal fields, segregated in their own sections of the company towns. 80 % of all coal in WV was mined in company towns. The coal mine owners felt they had a divine right to do whatever was necessary to build their companies in “the wilderness.” Most of the film focuses on the struggle between miners and the oppressive reality of life in company towns where all behavior was closely controlled by the miner owners. Key events such as The Matewan Massacre and The Battle of Blair Mountain are analyzed. Dr. Fred Barkey, a well-known WV labor historian, and industry historian Dr. C. Stuart McGehee provided the historical information. Executive producer Donn Rogosin, station manager of WSWP-TV.
58m; U.S.
Director: Harold Mayer and Lynne Rhodes Mayer
Synopsis: The Inheritance shows what life was really like for immigrants and working Americans from the turn of the century through the fight for civil rights in the 1960s. This stirring history of our country shows their struggle to put down roots, form labor unions, survive wars, and finally, create a new and better life for themselves and our nation.
Our film explores a landscape largely unknown to the present generation—the dim sweatshops, coal mines and textile mills filled with children; the anxious years of the depression and labor’s bloody struggle for the right to organize; the battlefields of WW I and II; the seldom seen newsreel footage of the Memorial Day massacre at The Republic Steel strike in Chicago; the civil rights struggle— as every generation fights again to preserve and extend its freedoms. This is the film’s theme.
Contact: The film is available in 4 parts on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWDPHQX0S0w
Harold Mayer and Lynne Rhodes Mayer
Harold Mayer Productions
New Milford, CT
118m; U.S.
Director: John Ford
Cast: Maureen O”Hara, Roddy McDowall, Walter Pidgeon
Synopsis: Huw Morgan, an old man who has decided to leave his Welch valley forever, tells his story. Huw is the youngest in a family of 6 brothers and 1 sister and the film centers on his struggle toward manhood amid conflicting demands of faith, economics, education and family loyalty. Set in a Welsh mining community at the beginning of the 20th century, based on the novel by Richard Llewellyn. Welsh choral music and quaint patterns of speech are nice period details.
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