The Flickering Flame

Documentary following dockers of Liverpool sacked in a labour dispute and their supporters’ group, Women of the Waterfront, as they receive support from around the world and seek solidarity at the TUC conference.

Copyright Criminals

Copyright Criminals examines the creative and commercial value of musical sampling, including the related debates over artistic expression, copyright law, and (of course) money. This documentary traces the rise of hip-hop from the urban streets of New York to its current status as a multibillion-dollar industry. For more than thirty years, innovative hip-hop performers and producers have been re-using portions of previously recorded music in new, otherwise original compositions. When lawyers and record companies got involved, what was once referred to as a “borrowed melody” became a “copyright infringement.” The film showcases many of hip-hop music’s founding figures like Public Enemy, De La Soul, and Digital Underground—while also featuring emerging hip-hop artists from record labels Definitive Jux, Rhymesayers, Ninja Tune, and more.

Harlan County U.S.A.

This film documents the coal miners' strike against the Brookside Mine of the Eastover Mining Company in Harlan County, Kentucky in June, 1973. Eastovers refusal to sign a contract (when the miners joined with the United Mine Workers of America) led to the strike, which lasted more than a year and included violent battles between gun-toting company thugs/scabs and the picketing miners and their supportive women-folk. Director Barbara Kopple puts the strike into perspective by giving us some background on the historical plight of the miners and some history of the UMWA. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with New York Women in Film & Television in 2004.

TPB AFK: The Pirate Bay - Away from Keyboard

TPB AFK is a documentary about three computer addicts who redefined the world of media distribution with their hobby homepage The Pirate Bay. How did Tiamo, a beer crazy hardware fanatic, Brokep a tree hugging eco activist and Anakata – a paranoid hacker libertarian – get the White House to threaten the Swedish government with trade sanctions? TPB AFK explores what Hollywood’s most hated pirates go through on a personal level.

American Dream

When workers at the Hormel meatpacking plant in Austin, Minnesota are asked to take a substantial pay cut in a highly profitable year, the local labor union decides to go on strike and fight for a wage they believe is fair. But as the work stoppage drags on and the strikers face losing everything, friends become enemies, families are divided and the very future of this typical mid American town is threatened.

Cocalero

A documentary centered on the union formed by Bolivian farmers in response to their government's (which was urged by the U.S.) effort eradicate coca crops, and the man who would come to represent them, Evo Morales.

Solidarnosc - Der Mauerfall begann in Polen

Gdańsk, Poland, September 1980. Lech Wałęsa and other Lenin shipyard workers found Solidarność (Solidarity), the first independent trade union behind the Iron Curtain. The long and hard battle to bring down communist dictatorship has begun.

RiP!: A Remix Manifesto

RiP!: A Remix Manifesto is a 2008 open source documentary film about the "the changing concept of copyright" directed by Brett Gaylor.

El año del descubrimiento

In 1992 – 500 years after the beginning of Spain's global empire with the discovery of America – Spain proudly presented itself to the international community as a modern, developed, dynamic country through the Olympic Games in Barcelona and the Expo in Seville. But for filmmaker Luis López Carrasco (1981, Murcia), 1992 was also the year in which the regional parliament building in Cartagena was razed during furious protests against the threatened closure of various local industries. El año del descubrimiento revives this almost forgotten history in a typical Spanish bar in Cartagena, where different generations come together to drink, eat, smoke and talk. Stories from witnesses, demonstrators and strikers from back then and discussions among younger café visitors on themes such as class consciousness, the economic crisis and the role of unions percolate to the surface amidst talk of other life issues.

Wildcat: The Struggle for Democracy in the New Zealand Timberworkers' Union

Delegates and workers discuss the issues that effect the Timberworkers’ Union, the reasons for the formation of the Combined Council of Timber Workers Delegates (CCD) and their industrial action.

Eugene Debs and the American Movement

Eugene Debs & the American Movement is an educational video that documents fifty years of long-suppressed history. Using extensively researched photographs, drawings and newsreel footage, it tells a story of the bloody strikes and brutal government reaction to the American workers' attempts to organize. This film is movingly narrated in Deb's own words, read from his speeches and writings, by his friend and comrade, Shubert Sebree.

Gutierres

Union

Up against one of the most powerful companies on the planet, a group of Amazon workers embark on an unprecedented campaign to unionize their warehouse in Staten Island, New York.

Di Cavalcanti Di Glauber

This controversial film from director Glauber Rocha records the funeral of his friend, major Brazilian painter Emiliano Di Cavalcanti.

I Know That Voice

Filmmaker Lawrence Shapiro discusses voice-over acting with the talented people behind the characters.

O Cinema Segundo Vladimir Carvalho

The documentary presents an overview of Vladimir Carvalho's cinematographic career, from the very beginning, as a co-writer of “Aruanda” (1960), directed by Linduarte Noronha, to the present day. With Vladimir himself as the main narrator and illustrated by scenes from his films, the documentary also features interviews with Gilberto Gil, Orlando Senna, Arnaldo Carillo, Dácia Ibiapina, Fernando Duarte, Sérgio Moriconi, among others.

La Bréa

Documentary about Brazilian actress Sandra Bréa.

Running Out of Patience: The 1986 Victorian Nurses Strike

Running Out of Patience documents the Victorian nurses' strike of 1986, revealing various myths and stereotypes which have managed to pigeonhole women as saints first and unionists second.

Cineastes en acció

What is the state of cinema and what being a filmmaker means? What are the measures taken to protect authors' copyright? What is their legal status in different countries? (Sequel to “Filmmakers vs. Tycoons.”)

With These Hands

Produced by the International Ladies Garment Workers Union, the film used actors to recreate the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire and compare working conditions of the early 20th century to that of the 1950s.