1. Luminous Shores (Hacer orillas luminosas)
(Hacer orillas luminosas)
2. Let's Rise Up (Insorgiamo)
On 9 July 2021, the 422 workers at the GKN factory in Campi Bisenzio near Florence received their dismissal, by email. They immediately met in front of the factory, scared away the management's bodyguards and have been holding an open-ended meeting at the factory ever since. In June of 2022, they talk about how they are rooted in the territory, why 30,000 people demonstrated with them. They explain why they put their struggle under the slogan "Insorgiamo!" , the slogan of the italian partisans who liberated Florence in 1944. But they also talk about their collaboration with climate activists and what they would like to produce. But as things stand today, it is not the workers who are responsible for the ecological damage caused by production: "Nobody asked me what I would like to produce when they hired me. They hired me and that was it."
3. Normalisace (Normalisace)
(Normalisace)
4. Railway Station (Dworzec)
Kieslowski’s later film Dworzec portrays the atmosphere at Central Station in Warsaw after the rush hour.
It has an average vote of 4.8 on TMDB.
5. Les petites mains invisibles
November 2017, North of Paris : H. Reiner-Onet cleaning company workers are fighting an exemplary battle. This 45 days strike, one of the longest in the history of the French railway, led by these men and women, ended in a decisive victory against two giants, Onet and the SNCF. One of the most impoverished sectors among railway workers, they had no previous experience with striking or organized struggle. How did they pull such a victory ? Their dermination to fight was undoubtedly the key to winning, but so are the links they forged with revolutionary activists who brought with them a tradition of fighting for workers against employers.
6. Homebound (Homebound)
Through first person narration, Tari reveals personal stories related to her decision to work in Taiwan, her strained family relationships, the risks involved in working abroad and the traps she has fallen into.
7. Grafická kontrola výroby (Grafická kontrola výroby)
(Grafická kontrola výroby)
8. My Body (Il mio corpo)
Oscar, not quite a child anymore, scavenges for scrap metal for his father. He spends his life in improvised landfills among what remains of leftovers. Worlds apart, yet close-by, there is Stanley. He tidies the church in exchange for a monetised hospitality, picks fruits, herds sheep: anything that keep his foreign body busy. Oscar, the young Sicilian, and Stanley the Nigerian don’t seem to have much in common. Except for the feeling of being thrown into the world, to suffer the same refusal, the same overwhelming wave of choices imposed on them by others.
It has an average vote of 6 on TMDB.
9. Girls Taking Time Checks
Almost 200 women file by a device on the wall from which they take their time checks. A man runs half-way across the screen at the end of the film.
It has an average vote of 5.6 on TMDB.
10. Nous, ouvriers : « Nos mains ont reconstruit la France » (1945-1963) (Nous, ouvriers : « Nos mains ont reconstruit la France » (1945-1963))
(Nous, ouvriers : « Nos mains ont reconstruit la France » (1945-1963))
It has an average vote of 8 on TMDB.
11. With Sea Views (Con Vistas al Mar)
After consolidating itself as a tourist destination in the mid-1960s, this small coastal village has become the dormitory town for the workers of a Nuclear Power Plant. With the liberal promise of prosperity and socioeconomic wellfare, many workers left their homes to move to the small city and started working at the new Nuclear Power Plant. The collective unrest and the silence, cut off by the great gusts of wind, articulate the landscape of the village that is now under the aid of the Nuclear Power Plant.
12. All Things Bakelite: The Age of Plastic
In 1907, Belgian-born American chemist Leo Hendrik Baekeland made one of the most transformative discoveries of the 20th century: Bakelite. It was the first wholly synthetic plastic and ushered in an explosion of new man-made materials that marked the beginnings of our modern industrial age.
13. Passfire
A film about fireworks, the people who make them and the cultures behind them across the globe.
It has an average vote of 7.2 on TMDB.
14. Font Men
You've never heard of Jonathan Hoefler or Tobias Frere-Jones but you've seen their work. They run the most successful and respected type design studio in the world, making fonts used by the Wall Street Journal to the President of the United States.
It has an average vote of 5.7 on TMDB.
15. The Road Taken
This 1996 documentary takes a nostalgic ride through history to present the experiences of Black sleeping-car porters who worked on Canada's railways from the early 1900s through the 1960s. There was a strong sense of pride among these men and they were well-respected by their community. Yet, harsh working conditions prevented them from being promoted to other railway jobs until finally, in 1955, porter Lee Williams took his fight to the union.
16. Wanda Gosciminska – A Textile Worker (Wanda Gosciminska - wlókniarka)
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.
It has an average vote of 8 on TMDB.
17. The Take
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.
It has an average vote of 7.5 on TMDB.
18. On the Other Side (De l'autre côté)
The oldest Quebecois Benedictine convent open its gates to a documentary filmmaker for the first time. Observed up close, life behind its walls is busier than one would expect. About twenty cloistered nuns, most of them over 70, share their daily life with diligence and humor. A contemplative portrait of a community of sisterhood and solidarity emerges, punctuated by prayer, work and games evenings.
19. The Tobacco Conspiracy: The Backroom Deals of a Deadly Industry
This French-Canadian co-production goes behind the scenes of the huge tobacco industry, whose economic power has been expanding for five decades at the expense of public health. A gripping investigation covering three continents, Nadia Collot's film exposes the vast conspiracy of a criminally negligent industry that conquers new markets through corruption and manipulation. To confront the tobacco cartel, anti-smoking groups are organizing and scoring points, but the fight remains fierce. With ist diverse viewpoints, shocking interviews and riveting images, The Tobacco Conspiracy deftly defines the issues in a complex situation where private interests and the public good collide. Enlightening and engrossing, this documentary is a hard-hitting critique of an industry gone mad.
It has an average vote of 4.8 on TMDB.
20. Musician
Common sense says you can't make a living in America playing avant-garde improvisational jazz. But Ken Vandermark does it anyway. Among musicians, Vandermark's work ethic is almost mythic. The Chicago reed player has released over 100 albums with nearly 40 ensembles, spends over eight months per year on the road, and lives every other waking moment composing, arranging, performing—and trying to discipline his two hyperactive canines. Though Vandermark was the recipient of a 1999 MacArthur genius grant, he still spends most of his life in smoky clubs and low-budget recording studios, hoping people will plunk down hard-earned cash to hear his wholly non-commercial music. Following the artful cinéma vérité style of the internationally acclaimed Sheriff , Musician forgoes all interviews and voice-overs. It is a fly-on-the-wall time capsule that expertly captures every subtle sound and texture of this most American of art forms.