1994 Labor Film Series
All films shown at the Eastman House Dryden Theater, 900 East Avenue
Friday, October 7 Rochester Premiere
GERMINAL (Claude Bern, France, 1993, 158 min. French with subtitles)
During the 1870s conditions in the coal mines of northern France lead to a strike by the men, women and children who work the unsafe mines for slave wages. Emile Zola’s classic novel is the basis for this $80 million film, the most expensive ever made in France. With Renaud, Gerard Depardieu, Miou-Miou.
Friday, October 14
GUNG HO (Ron Howard, USA, 1986, 111 min.)
A Japanese car manufacturer builds a factory in a run-down Pennsylvania town, but rank and file American workers have a hard time with Japanese production methods. This comedy about the resulting labor-management culture clash will appeal to area industrial workers. With Michael Keaton, GeddeWatanabe, Mimi Rogers.
Friday, October 21
RIFF-RAFF (Ken Loach, UK, 1990, 95 min. English dialect with subtitles)
A group of construction workers from various parts of the United Kingdom and the West Indies demolish an old hospital and build public housing, but are plagued by unsafe working conditions. Loach’s improvisational style and dark, working class humor harks back to his earlier film, Rank and File. With Robert Carlyle, Emer McCourt, Jimmy Coleman.
Friday, October 28
REBELLION IN PATAGONIA (Hector Olivera, Argentina, 1974, 107 min. Spanish with subtitles)
This classic of Latin American cinema, long out of distribution, depicts the struggle of rural workers in southern Argentina who organize and strike in the 1920’s, only to be subjected to brutal repression by the country's ruthless military leaders.
Friday, November 4
LA TERRA TREMA (Luchino Visconti, Italy, 1948, 127 min. In Italian with subtitles)
A group of Sicilian fishermen are exploited by middle-men who have formed a cartel to sell fish. The fishermen, whose lives are marked by hardship and poverty, organize a union to stand up for their rights. Visconti’s Neo-Realist masterpiece won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.
Friday, November 11
ALAMBRISTA! (THE ILLEGAL) (Robert M. Young, USA, 1979, 110 min.)
This gentle, beautifully shot film, follows a Mexican farm worker who makes the illegal trek North to California but soon discovers that America is hardly the land of milk and honey. NAFTA and recent California proposals to limit the influx of undocumented workers make this film very current. With Domingo Ambriz, Trinidad Silva, Linda Gilin.
Friday, November 18
ACT OF VENGEANCE (John Mackenzie, USA, 1986, 120 min.) Charles Bronson gives a strong performance as United Mine Workers presidential candidate Jock Yablonski in this fictional film biography chronicling Yablonski’s life and assassination. Also starring Ellen Burstyn, Wilford Brimley.
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