FilmWorks United (2013)
(Scheduled time is approximate)

 

July 2 (Tuesday) 7:00 PM (Free) Berkeley Community College, Basement Auditorium - 2050 Center St., Berkeley
The Contis, the Struggle Continues (95 min. 2010) France
By Philippe Clatot
In Spring 2009, more than 1000 workers at the Continental factory in Clairoix, France, are told their plant will close for “economic reasons” with the permanent loss of their jobs. The workers begin to organize to defend their jobs and keep the plant open, and are infuriated that the company would destroy their livelihood.
Xavier Mathieu, a worker representative from the CGT union said, “Until now they have seen the Continental lambs. From now on, we are lions! We have been restrained for five weeks, now we will let loose,” They begin to organize and begin to learn the lessons from the past as they struggle to fight back. They fail to save the factory but win 50,000 euros for each worker.

July 5 (Friday) 7:00 PM ($7.00) Victoria Theatre - 2961 16th St. near Mission St., SF
The Spirit of ‘45 (94 min. 2013) UK, SF Premiere
By Ken Loach
LaborFest is proud to launch its opening with the US premier screening of the new Ken Loach film Spirit of ‘45. Ken Loach is the leading film maker in the world about working people and the issues they face, including his work “Bread and Roses” about the organizing of immigrant janitors in Los Angeles. His new documentary film is about the end of the 2nd World War and the pivotal year 1945, which saw a major transformation take place in England with the introduction of national healthcare and nationalization of the railroads and mines. Workers not only in England but also in the US were unwilling to go back to poverty and the depression, and were ready for action to defend their unions and human rights. In 1946, in fact, there was the last general strike in the US when workers struck to back clerical workers in Oakland. The film presents archival material, and we see and hear how workers perceived these major changes and what differences it made in their daily lives.
Attending the opening and introducing the film will be Dot Gibson, one of the voices in the documentary, who is also chair of the National Pensioners’ Convention, which links up retired workers and unions who are fighting to defend their social security benefits so they do not sink into poverty. The attack on the social rights and benefits were, of course, joined by UK Prime Minister Thatcher and her ally, former President Ronald Reagan, to attack the welfare state and social rights. Their motto was only that the market should determine your life and your future.
This film shows that working people can successfully confront issues facing them; the gains made by the British working people after the war are important lessons for American workers today.
“The Second World War was a struggle, perhaps the most considerable collective struggle this country has ever experienced. While others made greater sacrifices, the people of Russia, for example, the determination to build a better world was as strong here as anywhere. Never again, it was believed, would we allow poverty, unemployment and the rise of fascism to disfigure our lives.
We had won the war together; together we could win the peace. If we could plan to wage military campaigns, could we not plan to build houses, create a health service, transport system and to make goods that we needed for reconstruction?
The central idea was common ownership, where production and services were to benefit all. The few should not get rich to the detriment of everyone else. It was a noble idea, popular and acclaimed by the majority. It was the Spirit of 1945. Maybe it is time to remember it today.”
- Ken Loach
http://www.thespiritof45.com/
The Spirit of ’45: Ken Loach interview

July 6 (Saturday) 7:30 PM ($5.00) Edison Theater - 37417 Niles Bouleward, Fremont
The Whistle (70 min.) 1921
By Lambert Hillyer
Silent film with live piano accompaniment: Directed by Lambert Hillyer and staring William S. Hart. This 70-minute film explores one man’s attempt to avenge the death of his son following a factory workplace accident. Opening film shorts are A Corner in Wheat (1909; 14 min) and The Cry of the Children (1912; 29 min).

 

July 7 (Sunday) 4:15 PM ($5.00) Edison Theater - 37417 Niles Bouleward, Fremont
The Iron Horse 1924
Iran By John Ford
Silent film with live piano accompaniment:  The Sunday matinee film feature is The Iron Horse (1924), directed by John Ford and starring George O’Brien, which commemorates the building of the Transcontinental Railroad.

July 10 (Wednesday) 7:00 PM (Donation) 518 Valencia - Near 16th St., SF
Shift Change (70 min. 2012) USA
By Mark Dwarkin & Melissa Young
Shift Change documents workers running their own factories or businesses from Mondragon in the Basque Country in Spain to the Arizmendi Association of Cooperatives in San Francisco that are independent worker owned and managed cooperative bakeries. This movement is challenging the corporate ideology that only billionaires and their executives can run a business.
The producers will be introducing the film as well as a representative from Arizmendi Coop.

One Shot, One Kill (68 min. 2009) Japan
By Yukihisa Fujimoto
This story is about the lives of US marines and how they are trained. From the inside, we see how the US military trains its young workers to carry out the US international agenda from the inside. The film was produced by Japanese director Yukihisa Fujimoto who has focused much of his work on the occupation of Okinawa and the cost of that for the people of that island. Most of these Marines are young workers who are seeking to break the cycle of poverty in the US by getting a job in the military. 80% will be sent to the front lines in Afghanistan and the many other wars the US is fighting.

July 12 (Friday) 7:00 PM (Donation) ILWU Local 34 Hall - 801 2nd St., SF next to AT&T Stadium
The Contis, the Struggle Continues (95 min. 2010) France
By Philippe Clatot
In Spring 2009, more than 1000 workers at the Continental factory in Clairoix, France, are told their plant will close for “economic reasons” with the permanent loss of their jobs. The workers begin to organize to defend their jobs and keep the plant open, and are infuriated that the company would destroy their livelihood.
Xavier Mathieu, a worker representative from the CGT union said, “Until now they have seen the Continental lambs. From now on, we are lions! We have been restrained for five weeks, now we will let loose,” They begin to organize and begin to learn the lessons from the past as they struggle to fight back. They fail to save the factory but win 50,000 euros for each worker.

On the Art of War (85 min. 2010) Italy
By Silvia Luzi & Luca Bellino
In Milan 2009, Italian metal workers at the INNSE factory are faced with permanent joblessness if the factory is dismantled and the land is turned over to property developers. It is the last active factory left in Milan, and four workers climb 20 meters to occupy a crane in the factory. They also threaten to commit suicide unless the dismantling of the factory is stopped, and their jobs are protected.
The factory is surrounded by police as well as their supporters, who have traveled from throughout the country to back their right to a job.
They are prepared to give their lives to stop the destruction of their jobs by the corporate interests, who are looking to profit from liquidating their factory.

July 18 (Thursday) 7:00 PM (Donation) 518 Valencia - Near 16th St., SF
Strike (85 min. 1925) USSR
By Sergei Eisenstein
Even The Heavens Weep: The Mine Wars of West Virginia (60 min. 1985) USA
By Danny L. McGuire
Strike is a powerful film on a locomotive factory strike in 1903 in Russia. A worker is blamed for a theft by the management and hangs himself. The conditions that workers faced under Czarist Russia are extremely oppressive, and this leads to workers organizing to fight back. The struggle for workers rights was met with brutal repression, and these conditions led to the Russian revolution. Eisenstein, who was the foremost film maker in Russia at that time, shows the role of not only the owner of the factory but also the police, the government and the military who are brought in to destroy the strike by firing on the strikers.
Today, as workers face harsher and harsher conditions and the government being used to support the bosses, while the times are different, the growing repressions against labor and working people has continuity.

Even The Heavens Weep: The Mine Wars of West Virginia (60 min. 1985) USA
By Danny L. McGuire
In 1920 in Matewan, West Virginia, a shootout took place between local coal miners and Baldwin-Felts were agents for the owners. Miners were seeking to join a union, and the ensuing battle following the shootout at Matewan was the battle at Blain Mountain. This mobilization of the miners became the largest rebellion since the American civil war, and also led to these miners joining the United Mine Workers of America UMWA. The shoot out is re-enacted annually in Matewan, West Virginia, and labor and community are seeking to preserve and save Blair mountain from environmental destruction.
Retired ILWU Local 10 longshoremen Howard Keylor will introduce the film.

July 19 (Friday) 7:00 PM (Donation) Redstone Building - 2940 16th St. at Capp, SF
Newspeak (25 min) 2011 UK
By Ken Fero
This important documentary looks at the role of the corporate media, and how it plays a powerful propaganda role in not only supporting wars around the world, but also attacking working people. The ideology and propaganda power of the Murdochs of the world is clearly the focus of the film, and it goes into the method of how the issues are framed to build support for endless war and continuing attack on working people.

Mother of Fukushima (17 min.) 2013 USA
By Kazmi Torii
This documentary tells the story about the Japanese Fukushima mothers, who are fighting to protect their children and have been lied to about the dangers of radiation, and even where the plumes were that contaminated them and their families. This is about the real cost of the Fukushima meltdown to the people of the region, and what it means to them and us in the United States, where 104 nuclear plants continue to operate.

Living as Brothers (90 min.) 2012 Canada
By Kevin Fraser
Kevin Fraser, in his film Living As Brothers, exposes the lives of migrant workers from Jamaica, brought to Ontario, Canada to work the crops. These are the migrant workers who produce our food, and like many migrant workers around the world, these workers face discrimination and exploitation but are struggling to support their families. Their solidarity and brotherhood is a powerful bond that keeps them together in trying times.

July 25 (Thursday) 7:00 PM (Donation) First Unitarian Universalist Church - 1187 Franklin St. at Geary
Roadmap to Apartheid (95 min.) 2012
By Ana Nogueira & Eron Davidson
Screening of Roadmap to Apartheid and panel on US Labor, Palestine and Israel.
Eron Davidson, the co-producer of Roadmap to Apartheid will be introducing the film.
Roadmap to Apartheidby film makers Eron Davidson from Israel, Ana Nogueira from South Africa and narrated by Alice Walker tells the story of how apartheid was developed in South Africa and compares those policies to Israel and Palestine. There will be a discussion on the film and a panel on the action by labor and community activists on June 20, 2010 to blockade the Israeli Zim ship in the port of Oakland.
Joining the panel will be ILWU Local 10 retired members Jack Heyman, ILWU Local 10 and Howard Keylor and Clarence Thomas, a working member of ILWU Local 10.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZch1ydvXvc
Sponsored by Labor Video Project

July 26 (Friday) 7:00 PM (Donation) 518 Valencia - near 16th St., SF
The Machinist (50 min.) 2010
By Hannan Majid & Richard York
This important film shows the story of Bangladeshi garment workers by following three Dhaka garment workers. It looks at their every day lives, their struggles at home, the constant battles they face with their factory owners and puts a face to the men and women who make clothes for GAP, Walmart, and other companies. The owners of these factories, who are also in the Bangladesh parliament, have murdered union organizers and violently prevent their workers from gaining any labor and human rights.
This film tells this story through illuminating the lives of these workers and why the recent industrial disasters are a logical result of the corruption and corporate control of the government of Bangladesh.

Bhopali (89 min.) 2011
By Van Maximilian Carlson
With introduction by Dr. Jaysi Chander.
In 1984 in Bhopali, India, at the Union Carbide plant, there was a deadly gas leak that killed over 20,000 people. The company now owned by Dow Chemical refused to properly maintain the safety equipment in the plant, and their criminal negligence cost the lives of workers and members of the community. Today, there are hundreds of thousands of Bhopal families who are still suffering from this man made catastrophe, and are fighting for compensation and justice.
It was the worst industrial accident in the world, yet, Union Carbide executives have not spent a day in jail, and Dow refuses to properly care of the thousands of workers and their families who are still suffering for their cutting of costs.
This film was made to continue to struggle to break the information censorship by the corporate media.
The continuing industrial disasters show that these corporations are not only out of control, but also flagrantly engaged in practices leading to the murder of workers and residents in the driver for greater profits at any cost.
Co-sponsered by; ICJB, International Campaign Justice for Bhopal; ASATA, The Alliance of South Asians Taking Action, AID (Association for India's Development).

July 28 (Sunday) 5:30 - 7:00 PM (Donation) Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts - First floor theater - 2868 Mission St., SF
Maestra (33 min.) By Catherine Murphy
With Cuban Educator Dr. Norma Guillard, film Director Katherine Murphy and panel of adult educators.
Maestra pays homage to thousands of young Cuban women in the 1960´s that were mobilized against illiteracy on the island. A total of 250,000 volunteers taught 700,000 people to read and write in one year. While Cuba, after the revolution, was able to have a massive adult education program that educated millions of Cuban adults, today in California, the government is shutting down education for millions of immigrant workers and their families.
After the film, a panel with Cuban educator Dr. Norma Guillard, film Director Katherine Murphy, along with California adult education teachers will discuss the film and the battle today to defend adult education programs in California.

July 28 (Sunday) 7:30 PM (Donation) Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts - First floor theater - 2868 Mission St., SF
War in Paterson, the Strike that Changed the Labor Movement (45 min.) By Dana Seidel
Please note: The length of the film has been changed
One hundred years ago, a mass labor strike took place at Paterson, New Jersey, led by the IWW. Young Jewish and Italian immigrant women organized to fight for health and safety and human rights, as well as the fight to defend free speech. This struggle, while unsuccessful, showed the tremendous solidarity and power of the working class, and the ability to unite immigrant women workers from Europe. It also showed that the fight for the right to free speech and democratic rights is critical, if workers are able to tell their stories. The Paterson Pageant, which was performed at Madison Square Gardens was a important theatrical production on the class struggle for working people, and while the show lost money, it has left an indelible imprint on American workers history.
A Witness to the Paterson Strike
Interview with Ralph Golzio (5 min.)
This short film will be also shown with an interview with Ralph Golzio, whose mother was a silk spinner and member of the IWW. She was one of the many women organizers that fought for a strong democratic union to defend their labor and human rights. After the films, there will be a discussion with labor educator Gifford Hartman, who will give an overview of the strike and its meaning today.

Dreamworks China (56 min.) By Tommaso Facchin & Ivan Fraceschini
Dreamworks China looks at the lives of Apple i-phone workers and their dreams for the future. Foxconn is the largest private employer in China and the militarized conditions at the plants that produce the Apple products have led to dozens of suicides and the destruction of dreams. While Apple has a cache of 80 billion, it refuses to provide decent working conditions for the hundreds of thousands of workers who toil to make their products. What this says about this system is left to the viewer, but it is clear that this contradiction is harmful to the workers and society.

July 29 (Monday) 7:00 PM (Free) ILWU Local 34 Hall - 801 2nd St., next to AT&T Stadium
FilmWorks United International Working Class Film & Video Festival
The 45th Anniversary of the San Francisco State Strike, Labor and the Lessons for Today
The Turning Point - SF State '68 Strike (56 min.)
This is the 45th anniversary of the 6-month-long San Francisco State strike that established the first ethnic studies program and won support within the labor movement for a policy of open admissions. The ILWU Local 10 and ILWU Local 34 played an active part in supporting the strike. Today, the privatization of the CSU system along with UC and the growing attack on our public community colleges is directly threatening poor and working class students, particularly Black and Latin along with Asian from having an education. Students under massive debt are turned into paupers even before they are able to graduate and many cannot afford to graduate at all.
After the video, panelists will discuss the lessons of the strike and its relevance today in labor and the struggle to defend students and working people.
Initial Panelists: Jimmy Garret, former head of SF State BSU; Dr. Ray Tomkins, former BSU striker and heath advocate in Bayview-Hunters Point; Terry Collins, former BSU striker and with KPOO Radio; Clarence Thomas, former BSU striker and ILWU Local 10 Executive Board member.