Yama – Attack to Attack(1985)

America Today(en)

One of the key works in creating the American social documentary film, this 1934 newsreel compilation crams a lot of information into just 11 minutes. Skillfully edited, the picture captures a panorama of international events centered on the labor movement. Scenes include Mussolini, Hitler and FDR preparing for war, Nazi soldiers persecuting German Jews, a political strike in Paris, the Scottsboro demonstration in Washington, DC, police violence against striking steelworkers in Pennsylvania and union members stopping scab workers from delivering milk during a dairy farmers strike in Wisconsin. Under the direction of pioneering documentarian Leo Hurwitz, the images are edited together to create a powerful image of a world that, in his view, desperately needed radical change.

The Take(en)

In suburban Buenos Aires, thirty unemployed ceramics workers walk into their idle factory, roll out sleeping mats and refuse to leave. All they want is to re-start the silent machines. But this simple act - the take - has the power to turn the globalization debate on its head. Armed only with slingshots and an abiding faith in shop-floor democracy, the workers face off against the bosses, bankers and a whole system that sees their beloved factories as nothing more than scrap metal for sale.

Seattle's Bikini Baristas(en)

Take a deep dive into the booming, scantily-clad barista coffee shop scene in Seattle where sex sells - your morning coffee. But behind the intrigue of lingerie and java lurks a darker side, where female "bikini baristas" struggle with the troublesome and inappropriate behavior of their male clientele. At what cost are merchants willing to foster a culture of sexual harassment and use sex to push profit?

Carny(en)

CARNY is an intimate, gritty and poetic adventure following the lives of 'carnys' - traveling fairground workers whose experiences are outside the normalcy of most North Americans.

Man Versus Man(en)

Man-pulled rickshaw, which have served Kolkata for over eight decades face virtual extinction as a result of legislation introduced by the State Government in 1981. This would rob over 100,000 people of a living. The film analyzes the critical situation, and on the basis of concrete facts and figures, questions whether such a step would be fruitful at all. The image of a man pulling a man is a depressing and a negative one - but not more negative than that of the image of a man going without food.

Berlino(it)

What do Italian guest-workers do when they get home, after a hard day's work on one of the many new building sites in Berlin? They talk, get bored, phone home. They try to survive. Berlino is a moving documentary about displacement.

Crude Oil(zh)

Filmed in the Inner Mongolian portion of the Gobi Desert, this film follows a group of oil field workers as they go about their daily routine.

Habilito: Debt for Life(es)

Documents the conflicts and tensions that arise between highland migrants and Mosetenes, members of an indigenous community in the Bolivian Amazon. It focuses particularly on a system of debt peonage known locally as ‘habilito’. This system is used throughout the Bolivian lowlands, and much of the rest of the Amazon basin, to secure labor in remote areas.

Railway Station(pl)

Kieslowski’s later film Dworzec (Station, 1980) portrays the atmosphere at Central Station in Warsaw after the rush hour.

After Breaking the Silence(ko)

4, April, 2014. Worker's who worked in "SaengTak" are get to the struggle to require adjust of working environment for safely food, and guarantied a Three Right of labors. Then. Worker's tried to record there's own struggle and launch forth to street, However, Law, Capital, unconcern of crowd and avoid of famille are swallow up them.

Wanda Gosciminska – A Textile Worker(pl)

The life of a female weaver is thrown onto the socio-political canvas of pre-war and post-war communist Poland through the use of expressive allegorical and symbolic imagery in this imaginative take on the documentary form.

Fermes tes jolis yeux(fr)

In a village in Belgium, the earth opens up, letting out the voice of a man, a stone worker. His fingers sculpt and carve, but the flashes of stone stop at the walls of a small workshop attached to his house. Each blow of his chisel rips a piece of history, of conscience, of struggle into oblivion. Meanwhile, not so far from his workshop, the quarry, without age, without memory, advances, devours the surrounding houses, the streets, the town, the roots...

Nous, ouvriers : «Nos cœurs battent encore » (1983 à nos jours)(fr)

Marble and Concrete(es)

A documentary that invites the viewer to immerse themselves in a intimate and thoughtful walk through Poblenou Cemetery in Barcelona, better know as "El Santet", to see what is happening at its surrounding areas and, especially, inside: work, buildings, people watching over those who are no longer here, cemetery workers... A trip through a space that is closer than we think.

Your Social Security(en)

An explanation of social security, survivors’ insurance and other benefit systems, encouraging workers to file for their social security cards.

Harlan County U.S.A.(en)

This film documents the coal miners' strike against the Brookside Mine of the Eastover Mining Company in Harlan County, Kentucky in June, 1973. Eastovers refusal to sign a contract (when the miners joined with the United Mine Workers of America) led to the strike, which lasted more than a year and included violent battles between gun-toting company thugs/scabs and the picketing miners and their supportive women-folk. Director Barbara Kopple puts the strike into perspective by giving us some background on the historical plight of the miners and some history of the UMWA. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with New York Women in Film & Television in 2004.

The Curious Case of Curt Flood(en)

Inside the life of former baseball star Curt Flood whose fight against MLB's 'Reserve Clause' led to reform, but destroyed his career.

Miners Shot Down(en)

In August 2012, mineworkers in one of South Africa’s biggest platinum mines began a wildcat strike for better wages. Six days later the police used live ammunition to brutally suppress the strike, killing 34 and injuring many more. Using the point of view of the Marikana miners, Miners Shot Down follows the strike from day one, showing the courageous but isolated fight waged by a group of low-paid workers against the combined forces of the mining company Lonmin, the ANC government and their allies in the National Union of Mineworkers.

Not Everyone Sleeps at Night(sh)

Not everyone sleeps at night in Zagreb. An exploration of various night-time jobs.

Dokkoi! Songs from the Bottom(ja)

After the waning of the protests in Sanrizuka, Ogawa Pro started questioning the future of the collective and looking for other subjects to film. Following the method developed in the previous films, the filmmakers moved to the slum of Kotobuchi in the port city of Yokohama, where more than 6000 people were struggling to get by without any means of survival, exposed to industrial accidents and diseases. The result is one of the most moving films produced by the collective, a series of beautifully filmed portraits, voicing the silenced stories and songs of a group of people living in this community. Credit: ICA London