London Labour Film Festival: Shorts Competition Results (ITF’s Turkish Airlines dispute video clip recognised)

September 11, 2012

The festival organisers say:

“After much deliberation on the 33 entries, our global judging panel selected one overall winner and four runners-up. The standards were very high and the judges selected films that they felt contributed something different to the world of labour cinema.

“The winners will be screened alongside our 18 feature length films at the Prince Charles Cinema, Leicester Square  from13-15September.

Winning entries

First place: Gloria, directed by John Ward

Gloria is a simple, sensitive and touching portrait of life as an immigrant worker in the UK.  It has high production values and great acting from the central character (played by Georgia Goodman).  We were moved by this piece of work, the central theme of which we identified as love – the one human instinct that binds us all together – and as such we were able to empathise with Gloria from the outset.

Gloria will be screened before BIUTIFUL, 20:40, Friday 14September 2012 and after the Gala Screening of Snows of Kilimanjaro on Saturday 15 September,18:30.

 Runners up (in no particular order)

The Lion Sleeps No More (time-lapse) by Alec Hahn, an audiovisual media designer and an artist. His film almost makes the viewer a spectator to the march by cleverly compressing images which in real time, would be boring (a radical version of Warhol sleeping). What is lost in information on placards and banners is more than compensated for by the exhilarationof the massed marchers. The Morricone is perfect!

With the march for A Future that Works on 20 October this is well-timed piece selected by the judges. This film will be screened prior to the screening of Manufactured Landscapes, 15:45 Thursday 13 September.

Vast Riches by Emmanuel Blessed is an ambitious well-paced film, very different in scope from some of the other films that we received, but nonetheless a very indirect and acceptable angle on labour. This film is an unusual take on the “rat race” plus our boy is not very admirable. This is a technically well-executed film.This will be screened prior to the screening ofNorma Rae at 15:40 on Saturday 15September.

Diving for Pearls by Ryan Powell. In many ways, this film is the real life documentary version of Gloria and imparts a similar message.  The metaphor of this worker being locked underground and walked over by us all without anyone noticing is particularly powerful. This will be screened prior to the screening of Mondays in the Sun 13:30 on Saturday 15September.

Stand Up by Sean Taylor. Well, we all love a good protest song, so were very pleased to be presented with this film. It works well because the images are not over-shadowed by the music, in fact the two seem to work comfortably hand-in-hand to reinforce the message that we are stronger when we stand together, and that change (throughout history and across the world) is often achieved by mass protest. This will be screened prior to the screening of Brassed Off, 15:40 on Friday 14 September 2012.

The organisers also commend the following films:

21 Years  effective testimony on the dangers of chemical treatment of banana crops and part of a series films about worker abuses in the Cameroon from the Make Fruit Fair campaign. Starting to Smoke Again A rail worker, caught between the decisions of big business has a long walk home in 2012. Winning in the Worlds’ Ports provides insight into dockers’ struggles and successes. Rights Removal: an ambitious film using an unusual scenario highlighting a very important issue at the current time. Brutally Yours: A nice agit prop piece. Rig Life and finally Union Street by Benjamin Bee.

The judges send their thanks to everyone who took part in the festival competition.

The Judges

Tom Zaniello lives in America, and is the author of Working Stiffs, Union Maids, Reds and Riffraff: An Expanded Guide to Films about Labour and The Cinema of Globalization: A Guide to Films about the New Economic Order (both from Cornell University Press). Tom is currently writing a study of labour films in the 21st century megalopolis and a guide to Hitchcock’s films.

Anna Burton is director of the London Labour Film Festival. She has worked for 13 years in the labour movement and runs a film production company in London.

Jon Garlock a writer and labour historian serves on the Executive Board of the Rochester Labor Council NYC, chairing its Education Committee. He coordinates the Council’s annual Labor Film Festival, now in its 23rd year, co-curated with the film programmer of the International Museum of Film and Photography at George Eastman House. As a labor educator Dr. Garlock has coordinated several work-based curriculum projects. (For more information visit www.rochesterlabor.org)

Steve Price is an award-winning filmmaker specialising in music related productions; artists Steve has worked with include Billy Bragg and Beyonce. He is a political activist and is based in the UK.