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International Working Class
Film & Video FestivalAt San Francisco Locations
July 5 (Thursday) 7:00 PM ($5.00) -Roxie Theatre 3117 16th St., SF
International Working Class Film & Video Festival
Big Brother is Watching - The Other Side of Samsung (40 min)
By Labor News Production (Korea) 2006
Cell phones, beepers and the myriad of electronic devises have become essential tools in our lives but in this riveting documentary by Korea¹s Labor News Production, we learn that there is another side to these devises when Samsung employees want to find out about their labor rights. Samsung in Korea has a long virulent history of attacking all those who seek to form unions and they are now using their high tech to head off unionization. Workers to their horror, discover that their every word outside the factory is being fed back to Samsung and this continues even when some of the workers no long even work at the company. This film goes to the heart of how new communication technology can and is being used to thwart democratic labor rights. It is an eye opener on the new telecom world and what this means for our society. www.lnp89.org
Battle Of Local 5668 (54 min) 2007 by Shawn Bennett
1700 men and women union members were locked out of their jobs for over a year by international fugitive from justice, Marc Rich. The film centers on local union 5668 of the United Steelworkers of America. In 1992, the prospect for labor was bleak. Reagan had just fired the air traffic controllers, “big business” was given free reign. Amongst the mation’s constant pursuit of money, chain stores, and city sized Wal-Mart shopping centers, comes this little-known story of 1700 men and women in rural West Virginia who refused to given in to big business and fought for their rights.www.battleoflocal5668.com
July 6 (Friday) 7:00 PM ($5.00) -Roxie Theatre 3117 16th St., SF
International Working Class Film & Video Festival
Against Coercion ( Kimigayo Fukiritsu) (60 min) 2006
by Video Press (Japan)
Under Tokyo mayor Ishihara, the Tokyo government is now punishing teachers who don¹t stand up during the singing of national anthem "Kimigayo". Since last October 2003, 345 teachers have been punished and this video exposes their struggle against militarization.
This video shows how this effort to re-introduce militarism in the schools is taking place.
Also attending and speaking will be Japanese teacher Ms Sato Etsuko who is a member of the Mirua Peninsula Teachers¹ Union In Kanagawa and has faced discipline against her protests.
http://www.geocities.jp/dorosien28/Default.wmv
Mgg01231@nifty.ne.jp
www.vpress.jp
Korea, Labor and FTA (25) 2006 by MediAct (Korea)
From "16 Takes On Korean Society"
This segment and music video shows the reason Korean workers are up in arms against the proposed US-Korea Free Trade Agreement. From temporary workers to teachers and public workers, the FTA will drastically affect their labor rights and living conditions.
http://mediact.org/web/eng/eng02.php
http://www.archive.org/details/16takesJuly 7 (Saturday) 2:00 PM ($5.00) -Roxie Theatre 3117 16th St., SF
International Working Class Film & Video Festival
Ballad of Joe Hill (115 min) 1971 (Sweden/United States)
By Bo Widerberg
Joe Hill was one of the most important trade unionist, labor cultural worker and militant in the history of the United States. His word sand music still hit home and this dramatic film tells his story as an immigrant coming to the United States. This rarely seen Academy Award nominated film is about an ingenious immigrant labor organizer who is framed on a murder charge in a highly sensationalized trial with little evidence. Despite worldwide appeals by the King of Sweden and the President of the USA, Hill is martyred after being shot by a Utah firing squad in one of the most controversial capital punishment trials of the 20th Century. He also was here during the San Francisco earthquake and wrote about this experience.
Land, Rain and Fire (28 min) 2006 by Tami Gold
What began as a teachers’ strike on May 22, 2006 for better wages and more resources for students has erupted into a massive movement for profound social change in the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. This film tells the story of the police attack on the morning of June 14th when more than fifty thousand teachers were camped out with their children. The attack backfired as public anger transformed the strike into an unprecedented democratic insurgency, demanding the resignation of the Governor and the creation of a new constitution.
tamigold@mindspring com
www.twn.orgJuly 7 (Saturday) 4:45 PM ($5.00-With the 2:00 or 7:00 PM 7/7 show's ticket, you can see this free) -Roxie Theatre 3117 16th St., SF
International Working Class Film & Video Festival
¡Gigante: Despierta! Giant: Awake! (83 min) 2006
By indymedia production - Brandon Jourdan
In 2006, a historic mobilization for immigrant rights swept the USA as millions took the streets. Mainstream news media predictably covered the marches with a mix of surprise, ignorance, and racism, yet grassroots media activists were there to document the voices
and the stories behind this mass movement.
¡Gigante: Despierta! is a DVD compilation of compelling short films from all around the country, due to hit the streets in the weeks before Mayday 2007. Shot, edited, and brought together by a network of independent video activists, graphic designers, community organizers, musicians, and immigrant rights activists, it is a collective memory and a tool to inspire action this MayDay 2007, when the Giant will raise its voice again to say: we are one people, without borders. We are here, and we are here to stay!July 7 (Saturday) 7:00 PM ($5.00) -Roxie Theatre 3117 16th St., SF
International Working Class Film & Video Festival
Morristown (60 min) 2007 by Anne Lewis
Morristown tells about how workers who are directly faced with the costs of NAFTA and globalization. Their factory is closed down and shipped to Mexico. Instead of folding up they work with the Mexican workers to unionize and fight for their rights. The cross connection and connected battle of US and Mexican workers is portrayed by exposing the real lives and costs of our new world economy. Cheryl Brown, who collaborated on this film, and is a Labor Specialist with the UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education will speak briefly after the film.
www.annelewis.org Alewis615@earthlink.net
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1tdfW0ccOY&eurl=
Uncommon Knowledge (28 min) 2006 by Eliza Hemenway
A unique view of Privatization happening in real time. Uncommon Knowledge takes place inside the University of California as plans unfold to shut down its historic San Francisco campus in order to convert it into a profitable private development.ewww.hemenwaydocs.com
The New Los Angeles (55 min) 2006 by Lyn Goldfarb
From the bitter, racially-driven elections that brought Tom Bradley to office as the city’s first black mayor in 1973, to the victory in 2005 of Antonio Villaraigosa, the the city’s first Latino mayor in more than 130 years, The New Los Angeles examines how race, labor and immigration have shaped this most complex of cities.(Lyn Goldfarb will be present)
lyn@documentary-films.tv
www.californiaseries.orgJuly 8 (Sunday) 2:00 PM ($5.00) -Roxie Theatre 3117 16th St., SF
International Working Class Film & Video Festival
The Spanish Earth (52 min) 1937
By Joris Ivens, written by John Dos Passos & Ernest Hemingway
This landmark political film follows the struggle for democracy that lay at the heart of the Spanish Civil War. Combining visceral footage shot at the frontlines, celebration of the Spanish people, and a powerful narration (written by Ernest Hemingway and John Dos Passos), the film presents the human face of war in a manner unmatched by few films before or since.
Souls Without Borders - The Untold Story of The Abraham Lincoln Brigade (52 min) 2006
By Alfonso Domingo, Anthony L. Geist
Seventy years have passed since the men and women of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade defied their government’s ban and took a stand against Franco, Hitler, and Mussolini in the bloody Spanish Civil War. A Third of them lie buried in Spanish soil.
Director Anthony Geist will be attending.
www.diagrama.tv
tgeist@u.washington.eduJuly 8 (Sunday) 5:30 PM ($5.00-With the 2:00 or 7:00 PM 7/8 show's ticket, you can see this free) -Roxie Theatre 3117 16th St., SF
International Working Class Film & Video Festival
Rebel County (52 min) 2006 by Harvest Films
Rebel County uses the shooting of the Ken Loach film The Wind that Shakes the Barley as a springboard from which to explore the real life events of The War of Independence in the South West of the country.
Rebel County features observational behind-the-scenes material of Ken Loach interacting with cast and crew, key ambush scenes, Black & Tan raids, behind the scenes historical discussions between Loach and cast members and includes clips of the completed film. The documentary strikes a creative and natural balance between the exploration of the film-making process and the real stories from that period.
It uses some of the film¹s key locations (Bandon, Buttevant and Clonakilty in West Cork) as a way of exploring what it was like for the ordinary inhabitants of Cork living through the traumatic events of the time. It explores the origins of the War of Independence, tracing the influence of 1798 and family and parish connections on the revolutionary period. It also explores the nature of society before independence and the influence of garrison towns, the impact of World War I and the competing allegiances in towns and villages like Bandon and Buttevant.July 8 (Sunday) 7:00 PM ($5.00) -Roxie Theatre 3117 16th St., SF
International Working Class Film & Video Festival
Carry On Ken (40 min) 2006 by Toby Reisz
This documentary shows the work and life of working class director Ken Loach. He has spent his life doing film about the lives, history and struggle of working people around the world. Meet the people who work with Ken and how he makes it happen.
info@feassiblefilms.co.uk
www.feasiblefilms.co.uk
The GAMA Strike - We Are Workers Not Slaves (60 min) 2006
by Socialist Party of Ireland (Ireland)
In 2005 a group of Turkish workers made history in Ireland when they took on their employer, Turkish-owned multinational construction giant GAMA. Assisted by the Socialist Party (Ireland), whose members first exposed the scandalous wages and conditions being paid by GAMA ti its Turkish workers, they engaged in a bitter and hard fought battle, which eventually brought GAMA to heel.
info@socialiftparty.net
www.socialistparty.net
This Is The Subway (30 min) 2006 by Ojo Obrero
This powerful documentary tells the story of how Buenos Aires subway workers won back their 6 hour day after the military dictatorship. They faced horrendous health and safety conditions and a union that did not want to fight but their power and stamina won the day.
info@ojoobrero.org
www.ojoobrero.org
Rebuilding San Francisco (28 min) 2006 by Maria Brooks
The only film about the workers and unions who rebuilt San Francisco after the 1906 quake. This video is a tribute to the skills, the talents and union organization of the workers who rebuilt San Francisco in only three years.July 12 (Thursday) 7:00 PM ($3.00, Free for AFTRA members) Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts 2868 Mission St., at 25th St., SF
Film Showing by AFTRA
AFTRA: Commitment to Action (28 min) 2007
by BAL-Maiden Films, directed by Amie Williams
Al Hart (AFTRA San Francisco Local Board of Directors) will introduce the documentary.
Commitment To Action is an inside look at how thousands of members of AFTRA depend on a union for representation and respect as workers and artists. Including well known radio and television workers, we see what a union means from their own words. This breaks stereotypes that because you are a well known personality, you don't need a union in the entertainment industry. These workers show again and again that having a union is not a luxury but a necessity in dealing with the some of the biggest media conglomerates in the world.
http://www.aftra.com/locals/sanfrancisco/AFTRADocumentary.htmlJuly 13 (Friday) 6:00 PM ($5.00) -New College
766 Valencia, SF
International Working Class Film & Video Festival
The Herd (SURU) (118 min) 1978 by Yilmaz Guney
In this illuminating film, we see how the industrialization of Turkey destroys the conditions and lives of the rural population. A sheepherder seeks to take his flock to Ankara to sell and in the process we see the transformation of society and the life of the Kurds. This film was banned in Turkey.
Oppression Is Illegal (21 min) 2006 by Labor News Production (Korea)
South Korean workers have some of the most militant and democratic unions in the world. At the same time they face massive repression with many trade unionists and leaders jailed and trade unionists faced with being sued personally for costs when they go on strike. As a result of these draconian measures, some unionists have committed suicide. Temporary workers are now the norm in Korea and this has brought even greater economic problems for the working people of Korea.
Lnp1989@empal.com
www.lnp89.orgJuly 15 (Sunday) 1:00 PM (Donation) -ILWU Local 6 Hall 255 9th Street, near Howard, SF
International Working Class Film & Video Festival
Discussion after the films on privatization/corporatization in education with videographers Jackson Potter and Pepi Leistyna. Also joining the discussion will be Robert McCarthy a Hayward Highschool teacher of NEA-CTA who was a one of the videographers of The Channel 16.84 "The Truth" a daily video strike bulletin on youtube.
Renaissance 2010: On The Front Lines (52 min) 2007
by Jackson Potter & Al Ramirez
A video documentary showing the threat to public education stemming from school privatization. This presentation features teachers from charter and traditional schools, educational experts, and community leaders affected by Renaissance 2010. jpottery2002@yahoo.com
Class Dismissed: How TV Frames the Working Class (62 min) 2005
by Loretta Alper & Pepi Leistyna
This film navigates the steady stream of narrow working class representations from American television's beginnings to today's sitcoms, reality shows, police dramas, and daytime talk shows.
http://www.mediaed.org/videos/CommercialismPoliticsAndMedia/ClassDismissedJuly 20 (Friday) 7:00 PM ($5.00) -Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts 2868 Mission St., at 25th St., SF
International Working Class Film & Video Festival
The 20th anniversary of the largest strike wave in the history of South Africa
.In 1987, a militant mass strike wave took place in South Africa against the apartheid regime. This strike involved railway workers, teachers, public workers and the entire Black labor movement. To commemorate this strike, Brother Robert Mashego 2nd Vice President of SATAWU from Johannesburg, South Africa who was in the strike has been invited to speak. We will also show a video of that strike, a video The Long March, The BTR Strike and a video of the 1984 Action Against Aparthied at Pier 80 in San Francisco and the support for this action by ILWU Local 10.
COSATU and The Freedom Charter (60 min) 1987
Producer unknown
This valuable historical video record of the 1987 strike wave against the apartheid regime of South Africa covers the miners, railway workers, auto workers and the strike rallies and actions during that year. Union members speak out throughout the film and debate at the COSATU Congress the role of their unions and why they need a “Freedom Charter.” This film is a critical resource in understanding and depicting the working class struggle in South Africa against apartheid and for workers power.
The Long March, The BTR Strike (26 min) 1986
by Open Eye Productions
Follows the NUMSA Sarmcol strike. This strike of the BTR workers in South Africa won support from throughout the world including the Bay Area. The workers organized collectives to raise funds through the production of t-shirts and other products. These workers wrote plays about their struggle and fought starvation and many assassination attacks by government and company supporters.July 25 (Wednesday) 5:30 PM (Donation) -SEIU Local 87 Hall 240 Golden Gate Ave., SF
International Working Class Film & Video Festival
The Scavengers (69 min) 2007 by Karahber (Turkey)
Hundreds of people who have been pushed out of their Kurdish village Ördekli Kotran's in Hakkari during 1994 are still in a battle for survival. Their work is collecting paper for recycling from the garbage in the center of Ankara. In 2001, a group of these workers started to video record their daily lives. They documented the suffering as a result of their forced migration and their struggle against unregulated face of capitalism in the capital city of Turkey. Their work tells the story of those people - from a 13 years old child looking after his family in the garbage of Ankara to an old man being dismissed from his village at the age of 60 with their only resources being their labor. Despite forced migration, alienation and degradation, they are proud of what they do.
(Kurish and Turkish with subtitles)
www.karahaber.org
Producing Just Garments (25 min) by Media Insurgence
500 workers of the Textile Union STIT are forced to occupy and run their factory after the bosses pulled out in an effort to destroy the union. Forming a workers’ cooperative, they face illegal firings and the might of international capital.
Solidarityfilms@riseup.net www.mediainsurgente.com
Labour Days (29 min) 2007 by Stuart Cryer (Canada)
It takes us through the history of the company town and how the workers began to organize and fight for their rights. Twenty workers talk about what a union means to them from protecting their healthcare and safety on the job to fighting discrimination and harassment on the job.
terrav@cyberbeach.netJuly 27 (Friday) 7:00 PM ($5.00) Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts 2868 Mission St., at 25th St., SF
International Working Class Film & Video Festival
USA vs Al-Arian (98 min) 2007 by Line Halvorsen
This is the story of the targeting by the US government of Palestinian American professor Dr. Sami Al-Arian at the University of South Florida in Tampa. Sami who was also a member of the NEA United Professors of Florida received their support against the pressure to fire him after he appeared on Fox¹s Bill O¹Reilly show. The film shows a personal story of a family living in a society where fear of terrorism has resulted in increasing stigmatization and discrimination against Muslims. For years, Nahla Al-Arian and her children have been fighting to prove the innocence of husband and father Sami, a Palestinian refugee, and civil rights activist, who has lived in the USA for more than thirty years. In 2003, Sami Al-Arian was accused of giving material support to a terrorist organization and held in solitary confinement for over three years. His six-month trial ended without a single guilty verdict. The failure to convict Dr. Al-Arian was seen as a stinging rebuke for the federal government. While the Bush administration considered this a landmark case in its campaign against international terrorism, Professor Sami Al-Arian claims he has been targeted in an attempt to silence his political views. Because the jury hung on some of the counts, however, Dr. Al-Arian remained in jail as the prosecution threatened to retry him.
Laila Al-Arian, daughter of Sami Al-Arian will be attending.
http://www.usavsalarian.com
The Alley (14 min) 2007 by a-films/RJI
From Occupied Palestine, this film explores aspects of the current political economy of Balata Refugee Camp in Nablus. Perspectives from this hard-hit community include the insights and voices of vegetable sellers and other residents of Balata, such as those forced by the harsh conditions of Israeli occupation to seek work in a sweatshop at the edge of the camp.
a-fils[at]riseup[dot]net
ripplescross[at]yaho[dot].com
www.researchjournalisminitiative.net
Suicide Jumpers (13 min) by Herbert Docena (Lebanon)
This work focuses on the Filipina house domestics who were seeking to leave Lebanon during the Israeli attack during 2006. Around 30,000 to 50,000 Filipino migrant workers most of them female domestic helpers were subjected to collective punishment in August 2006 in Israel because of the Lebanon bombing. Many of them were locked in their homes and had to jump out of their employers homes to escape back to the Philippines. It looks at the expoitation of these women and the hidden cost of the war in Lebanon. herbert@focusweb.org
The Wisconsin Plan: From Welfare to Work? (13 min) 2007
by Sawt el-Anel/The Labor’s Voice
Israel’s welfare-work experiment “Wisconsin Plan” has entered its decisive phase, as the two-year pilot period is about to end in June 2007. This film shows how this plan is causing the social and economic problems on Palestinian people in Israel.
laborers@laborers-voice.org
www.laborers-voice.org