2007 Fall Labor Film Series
All films shown at the Eastman House Dryden Theater, 900 East Avenue.
Friday, September 7, 8:00 p.m.
Rochester Premiere
SACCO AND VANZETTI (Peter Miller, US 2006, 80 min.)
Howard Zinn, Arlo Guthrie, and Studs Terkel provide contemporary
interviews for this new documentary about the two Italian
immigrants and anarchists — Bartolomeo Vanzetti and Nicola Sacco — who
were accused of murder and ultimately executed in Boston in 1927.
Their landmark case, which still resonates today, created an international
outcry of injustice and brought attention to the plight of immigrants
in America.
Friday, September 14, 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, September 16, 4:30 p.m.
Rochester Premiere
THE METHOD (EL MÉTODO) (Marcelo Piñeyro, Spain 2005,
115 min., Spanish with subtitles)
Several candidates for a high-level executive position in Madrid are
put through a nasty final selection process that utilizes a mysterious
human resources strategy from the U.S. known as the Grönholm Method.
The applicants soon find themselves in a contest that elicits fear,
suspicion, paranoia, and betrayal. This suspenseful and witty cinematic
adaptation of a successful play by Spanish writer Jordi Galcerán Ferrer
exposes the dark side of corporate life.
Friday, September 21, 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, September 23, 7.00 p.m.
THE THREE BURIALS OF MELQUIADES ESTRADA (Tommy Lee Jones, US 2005, 121 min.)
Ranch hand Pete Perkins (Tommy Lee Jones) kidnaps border patrol officer
Mike (Barry Pepper) who accidentally shot and killed Pete’s best buddy,
illegal immigrant Melquiades Estrada (Julio Cedillo). Then Pete and Mike
set out on a harrowing horseback journey to return Mel’s rapidly decaying
body to his family in Mexico. Part horror movie and part classic western,
The Three Burials’ brilliant script is by Guillermo Arriaga, author of Amores
Perros, 21 Grams, and Babel. Stylistically breathtaking, Jones’ feature
directorial debut is one of the best American films of the current decade.
Friday, September 28, 8:00 p.m.
THE DEVIL AND MISS JONES (Sam Wood, US 1941, 92 min.)
Looking to bust up union activity at his department store, wealthy tycoon
J.P. Merrick (Charles Coburn) goes undercover as a shoe salesman in order
to identify the organizers. Soon though, he’s caught up in the lives of his
employees, including union ringleader Mary Jones (the delightful Jean
Arthur), and Merrick forgets his original purpose — until his two identities
collide. This hilarious farce will be shown in a recently
restored 35mm print courtesy of the UCLA Film & Television Archive.
Friday, October 5, 8:00 p.m.
Rochester Premieres
WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON? (Ken Loach, UK 1984, 56 min.)
Made for British television, but withdrawn before it could
be broadcast, Loach’s powerful, polemic documentary takes a close look at the
momentous UK coal miners’ strike of 1984-1985.
CARRY ON KEN (Toby Reisz, UK 2006, 40 min., Digital projection)
The life and work of Ken Loach, cinema’s greatest champion of the working class,
is explored through up close and personal footage, as well as interviews with his
key collaborators.
Wednesday, October 10, 8:00 p.m.
U.S. Premier:
IT’S A FREE WORLD (UK 2007, 96 min.)
Sneak preview of Loach’s new film on legal and illegal immigrant workers.
Read more about this special
event »
Wednesday, October 10, 6:00 p.m. (Note new time)
Thursday, October 11, 6:00 p.m. (New screening)
CATHY COME HOME (UK 1966, 75 min.)
The story of a young woman (Carol White) who is left homeless by the bureaucratic British welfare system,
this powerful drama launched Loach’s career in features and forced changes in UK public policy.
Friday, October 12, 8:00 p.m.
Ian Ruskin in person! Rochester Premiere
FROM WHARF RATS TO LORDS OF THE DOCKS (Haskell Wexler, US 2006, 90 min.)
Writer Ian Ruskin stars in a wonderful one-man show about the life of Harry
Bridges, an Australian native who became one of the most influential and
outspoken American labor leaders of the 20th Century. The ever quotable
Bridges helped form the West Coast’s International Longshore and Warehouse
Union, which he ran while constantly fighting government harassment. Ruskin
will discuss his work and answer audience questions afterthe screening.
Wharf Rats will be preceded by INDONESIA CALLING
(Joris Ivens, Australia 1946, 22 min.), a moving documentary about Australian
dockworkers’ support of Indonesian resistance to Dutch neo-colonialism in the years following
World War II, preserved by Australia’s National Film and Sound Archive.
Friday, October 19, 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, October 21, 5:00 p.m.
Rochester Premiere
9 STAR HOTEL (MALON 9 KOCHAVIM) (Ido Haar, Israel 2007,
78 min., Hebrew and Arabic with subtitles)
Thousands of Palestinians have illegally crossed borders into neighboring Israel,
seeking work as day laborers in construction. Director Haar follows his subjects
closely as a group of nomadic young men flee from police, risk their lives, and
sleep in hovels in order to build luxury housing by day. 9
Star Hotel is a
devastating documentary portrait of young men caught in an economic and
political maelstrom not of their own making — their dreams
subsumed by the hard reality of day-to-day survival.
Friday, October 26, 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, October 28, 4:30 p.m.
Craig Zobel and Pat Healy in person!
Rochester Premiere
GREAT WORLD OF SOUND (Craig Zobel, US 2007, 106 min.)
Acclaimed at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, this unique
American indie plays like a mix of Glengarry Glen Ross
and American Idol. A close-up look at the practice of ‘song
sharking’,
the story focuses on pensive Martin (Pat Healy) and garrulous
Clarence (Kene Holliday), salesmen recruited by a shady
record label to seek out new talent‚ and
sell phony recording deals. At first oblivious to the
scam, the duo soon realize they’re being conned just like
the musicians. “Its sense of place,
of lonely hotel rooms and fly-by-night offices decorated
with spray-painted gold records, is as nicely observed
as its morally compromised characters.” (Manohla Dargis, The
New York Times). Co-writer and director Craig Zobel and
actor Pat Healy will answer questions following the screening.
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