Behind the fluffy towels and crisp white sheets of Berlin's finest hotels is a tale of seemingly brilliant entrepreneurship: A company takes the dirty laundry of German hotels to Poland - and brings it back clean the very next day. Outside of Germany, labor is cheaper and regulations are less constricting. But over and beyond this fascinating capital venture there remains the harsh reality of the everyday life of the hard-working Polish laundrywomen, through whose hands the white sheets pass. While Beata struggles to raise her three children on her meager salary, Monika reminisces about her unrealized childhood dreams of becoming a doctor, and is compelled to watch her teenage daughter Marta gradually follow in her footsteps.
Behind the fluffy towels and crisp white sheets of Berlin's finest hotels is a tale of seemingly brilliant entrepreneurship: A company takes the dirty laundry of German hotels to Poland - and brings it back clean the very next day. Outside of Germany, labor is cheaper and regulations are less constricting. But over and beyond this fascinating capital venture there remains the harsh reality of the everyday life of the hard-working Polish laundrywomen, through whose hands the white sheets pass. While Beata struggles to raise her three children on her meager salary, Monika reminisces about her unrealized childhood dreams of becoming a doctor, and is compelled to watch her teenage daughter Marta gradually follow in her footsteps.
2009-05-07
3
In this era, robotic peo- ple making humanized machine, is it a hopeless tragedy, or the beginning of a brave new world?
A film that exposes the shocking truth behind the economic crisis of 2008. The global financial meltdown, at a cost of over $20 trillion, resulted in millions of people losing their homes and jobs. Through extensive research and interviews with major financial insiders, politicians and journalists, Inside Job traces the rise of a rogue industry and unveils the corrosive relationships which have corrupted politics, regulation and academia.
For consumers, bananas are a delicious and nutritious start to the day, a healthy snack and a fixture in our fruit bowls. For millions of residents in the banana lands, the production of bananas means social upheaval, violence and pesticide poisoning. Banana Land explores the origins of these disparate realities, and opens the conversation on how workers, producers and consumers can address this disconnect.
Ten years after an enormous open-pit gold mine began operations in Malartic, the hoped-for economic miracle is nothing more than a mirage. Filmmaker Nicolas Paquet explores the glaring contrast between the town’s decline and the wealth of the mining company, along with the mechanisms of an opaque decision-making system in which ordinary people have little say. Part anthropological study, part investigation into the corridors of power, Malartic addresses the fundamental issue of sustainable and fair land management.
Compulsive Twitterer, Elon Musk bought himself his favorite social network in 2022, and brutally shaped it according to his desires. This punchy investigation relates the stormy relations between the platform and the billionaire, and their impact on the public debate.
The film deals with the process of globalization based on the thought of geographer Milton Santos, who through his ideas and practices, inspires the debate about Brazilian society and the construction of a new world. Santos discusses his views on the importance of respecting difference and his belief that an alternative globalisation model could wholly enfranchise all citizens of the world. An illustrious presence in 20th century social sciences, the man dubbed as ‘geography’s philosopher’ eloquently elucidates a developing world perspective on the global age.
An artistic hybrid documentary, ZERO IMPUNITY is the centerpiece of an ambitious global transmedia project. ZERO IMPUNITY sheds a powerful spotlight on the seemingly total Impunity for the use of sexual violence in armed conflicts worldwide. ZERO IMPUNITY is an important and necessary eye opening Scream, raising awareness and outrage.
Serif, the manager of a launderette in London’s Bethnal Green, dedicates her time to her regulars. Serving cups of tea and listening to their stories, Serif enriches their lives by helping the local elderly community. Laundriness is a simple and sensitive observational documentary about the meaning of life, fate, hope and regrets.
In November 2018, the news of the death of a 27-year-old American on the shore of a small island in the Indian Ocean went around the planet. Clash of the culture.
The wharf in Landskrona launches its final boat as the workers get ready for unemployment.
A documentary that exposes the shocking truths behind industrial food production and food wastage, focusing on fishing, livestock and crop farming. A must-see for anyone interested in the true cost of the food on their plate.
Water as a physical and metaphysical metaphor and background of human existence. A docu-fictional essay between the Brazilian Sertão-deserts and the Northern-German flood areas of Dithmarschen. Dramas and day-by-day-observations in times of climate change.
Part History Channel, part visual diary, and part mesmerizing abstraction, Allan Sekula’s video, A Short Film for Laos, 2006, takes the measure of day-to-day life in what the narrator describes as “the most bombed place on earth.”…
In this highly anticipated sequel to his groundbreaking, ADVERTISING AND THE END OF THE WORLD, media scholar Sut Jhally explores the devastating personal and environmental fallout from advertising, commercial culture, and rampant American consumerism. Ranging from the emergence of the modern advertising industry in the early 20th century to the full-scale commercialization of the culture today, Jhally identifies one consistent message running throughout all of advertising: the idea that corporate brands and consumer goods are the keys to human happiness. He then shows how this powerful narrative, backed by billions of dollars a year and propagated by the best creative minds, has blinded us to the catastrophic costs of ever-accelerating rates of consumption.
Concerning Violence is based on newly discovered, powerful archival material documenting the most daring moments in the struggle for liberation in the Third World, accompanied by classic text from The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon.
Undercover reporter Mark Daly reveals racism among police recruits in Manchester, England.
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.
Lukas Moodysson's acclaimed film Lilja 4-ever, seen by 100,000's of moviegoers is based on a real life story. The film's Lily was in fact called Danguole Rasalaites and came from Lithuania to Sweden when she was 16 years old. She was stripped of her passport and held captive in an apartment in Malmö where she was forced into prostitution.
This prophecy movie is a breath-taking prophetic glimpse into the future. World renowned authors Hal Lindsay, Dr. Tim LaHaye, Marlin Maddoux, and Chuck Missler offer startling insights into the turbulent days in which we live. A political and spiritual conditioning process is now in full swing following such diverse events as the September 11th tragedy and the media hype surrounding the Harry Potter phenomenon. This fast-paced prophecy DVD presents a clear and concise scenario of the earth-shattering events which are about to unfold across our planet. An important and eye-opening warning for this generation.Based on the book "Earth's Two Minute Warning" and includes scenes from the original video of the same title.