Film night Wed 19th March New Cross showing "Harlan County"

martinh "Wears loud shirts for the poor & oppressed"
Posts: 825 Joined: 08-03-06 Location: South East London
Submitted by martinh on 28 February, 2008 - 22:32.

Wed 19 March:
Class Acts presents.. Harlan County.
At Cafe Crema, 305 New Cross Road, New Cross, 7:30pm.
£4 incl veggie food.

ftony "crews are for boats"
Posts: 3605 Joined: 26-05-04 Location: East London
29 February, 2008 - 13:15

now that's a film i've wanted to see for a while... might make the trek down for this bad boy.

EdmontonWobbly "Sombre, jaded class warrior."
Posts: 1304 Joined: 25-03-06 Location: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
1 March, 2008 - 05:45

One of my favourites.

Jason Cortez "Wrong on all the crucial issues"
Posts: 1309 Joined: 14-11-04 Location: Deptford, South East London, London, U.K.
12 March, 2008 - 18:23

Wednesday 19th March

Class Acts presents…
Harlan County USA

In 1973, workers at the Brookside Mine, Harlan County, Kentucky, went out on strike. Bosses had refused to recognise their union. 180 coal miners downed tools and stopped work. Employer Duke Power Company then brought in scabs and a bitter and violent struggle followed.

Following events over a number of years, the film reveals that the strike was about much more than the right to unionise. Workers were fighting for a decent living wage, safe working conditions and proper sanitation and plumbing in the only housing they could afford.

Shot in a radical and intense participatory style, film-maker Barbara Kopple conveys fully the sense of dread and danger of the beatings and bullets that the miners faced as the company tried everything it could to prevent the workers winning. Harlan County USA remains today one of the exemplary films about the modern American working class.

Venue: Cafe Crema, 306 New Cross Road, New Cross, SE14 6AF
Time: 7:30pm.
£4 incl veggie food.

Buses: 53, 453, 177, 225,171, 172,136, 321, 21, 436, P13
Trains: New Cross or New Cross Gate
DLR: Deptford Bridge (10min walk)

Brought to you by South London Solidarity Federation www.solfed.org.uk

ftony "crews are for boats"
Posts: 3605 Joined: 26-05-04 Location: East London
13 March, 2008 - 11:50

forwarded to London wobblies.

syndicalist
Posts: 1183 Joined: 15-04-06
13 March, 2008 - 14:54

It's a good flick.

october_lost "Not one thread, not one needle"
Posts: 1079 Joined: 26-09-03 Location: Stratford, London
14 March, 2008 - 00:12

Might just be in attendance wink

Lone Wolf "Conor - At Peace with the World, Having Meaning in his Life"
Posts: 4082 Joined: 01-03-06 Location: E. London UK
14 March, 2008 - 00:20

You already had me wink

syndicalist
Posts: 1183 Joined: 15-04-06
20 March, 2008 - 13:19

It'd be cool to hear folks feedback on the film. And what sort of discussion, if any, followed.

ftony "crews are for boats"
Posts: 3605 Joined: 26-05-04 Location: East London
20 March, 2008 - 14:09

i really wanted to go but had to help out a (di)stressed girlfriend with work sad

ftony "crews are for boats"
Posts: 3605 Joined: 26-05-04 Location: East London
20 March, 2008 - 14:18

ps. anyone know where someone might be able to get hold of this bad boy for free?

Jack "In it for spite"
Posts: 9869 Joined: 22-09-03 Location: Brighton
20 March, 2008 - 15:53

ftony, they made it off a avi copy i gave them on a usb stick, if you're seeing any of them you can borrow it.

october_lost "Not one thread, not one needle"
Posts: 1079 Joined: 26-09-03 Location: Stratford, London
20 March, 2008 - 18:16
syndicalist wrote:
It'd be cool to hear folks feedback on the film. And what sort of discussion, if any, followed.

I briefly discussed it with some other comrades afterwards and there an obvious consensus that its a good piece of cinema, with some great insights by the people involved and the struggles unfold in a way that makes their militancy and general political views, very justified. My own personal criticism was that while it was good, emotive and involved real character development as the scenes progressed, the documentary needed some serious editing as it even began to test my patience towards the end. That said there were some real genuine working class politics in it, that I have'nt come across in quite some time, not in a documentary anyway.

ftony "crews are for boats"
Posts: 3605 Joined: 26-05-04 Location: East London
25 March, 2008 - 11:13
Jack wrote:
ftony, they made it off a avi copy i gave them on a usb stick, if you're seeing any of them you can borrow it.

rockin'.