Manchester Film Co-operative

luke · Joined: 07 Jun 2009 Posts: 5

in light of the credit crisis, caused by people doing made-up banking jobs, work would be a good theme.
could include lots of italian neo-realism like la terra trema, bicyle thieves. also maybe woman in the dunes; something by jia zhangke; Couscous; Ikuru etc. etc.

nattars · Joined: 06 Aug 2008 Posts: 67 Location: Salford

I like this theme a lot because it's so broad. We could have great fun with the film choices.

Giles · Joined: 16 Jul 2008 Posts: 46

I like it - this would be a great theme. Loads of good films and also lots of really interesting stuff to discuss - workers' rights, crap jobs, exploitation, the future of work.
The good thing about other theme suggestions like memory, identity and sexuality is that they're v different themes to previous ones the film co-op's done, but the work theme would be top.

David · Joined: 22 Oct 2008 Posts: 6 Location: South Lakes

What about that very old and very entertaining film "I'm Alright, Jack" from the work study vs unions era of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Still relevant, especially when applied to call centre work.

goddardmichael · Joined: 05 Feb 2009 Posts: 6

Some suggestions....

Tout Va Bien, JL Godard 1972

Two left wing journalists go into a factory and find themselves caught up in a wildcat strike......starring Yves Montand and Jane Fonda! The last and best of Godard's Dziga Vertov militant filmmaking period.

Man of Marble, A Wajda 1976

A film student decides to research the fate of a 1950s 'shock worker', a brick layer who set a record for how many bricks can be laid in one day and after a stellar career disappeared frim sight. Told in the style of Citizen Kane w multiple flashbacks, the film reveal the manipulations of both manual and intellectual work in two different historical periods and was a call to political engagement

Passion, Godard 1980,

The intersection between the lives of a Polish film-maker making a film based on tableau vivantes from the history of art and a female factory worker who becoems invovlved in the production. The formula for Passion = work plus love.........

Drifting Clouds, Kaurismaki,

The Finnish filmmaker's bittersweet tale about unemployment. A couple simultaneously lose their jobs (as a tram driver and working in 'the best restaurant in town) and their lives become ever more tragic wihtout however them ever abandoning hope. Check out the obligatory roackabilly scene!

more to follow!