The silent walls

Look at Life: Top People

January 1960 •English

An overview of high-rise construction activity in London. From the crane operators who build the new sky-scrapers to the tenants who live in the penthouses, this newsreel provides a colorful birds-eye view of London Town.

Eat Bitter

March 2023 •Sango

A local construction worker and a Chinese engineer are assigned to build a bank in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, one of the poorest countries in the world. But time is short and resources are scarce, and there are rumours in the countryside that a new civil war is brewing. And as if all this wasn’t bad enough, their relationships to their wives are falling apart. ‘Eat Bitter’ mirrors the existential and mundane problems of the two men, while an unlikely friendship and mutual trust blossoms between them. However, the chaotic microcosm of the construction site also mirrors China’s contradictory role in 21st century Africa, with the bank itself as the ultimate symbol of money, power and illusion. Director duo Pascale Appora-Gnekindy and Ningyi Sun themselves represent each of the two cultures, and their film has a unique eye for the human fallibility and irony of it all, but also for how we can reach each other despite all our many differences.

À ciel ouvert

January 2022 •German

Behind the scenes of a large construction site in western Switzerland, we dive into the world of construction where most of the workers are foreigners.

Men at Lunch

February 2013 •English

This remarkable new documentary explores the story behind one of the most iconic images of the twentieth century: the 1932 photograph of workmen taking their lunch while perched on a girder high above New York City.

The Deregistration of the Builders Labourers Federation

January 1992 •English

Chronicles the industrial action leading up to the deregistration of the Builders Labourers Federation.

Hilton Hotel Construction

September 1959 •English

The Hilton Hotel rises from the ashes, surrounded by derelict houses and bomb damaged streets.

The Loose Nut

December 1945 •English

Woody Woodpecker goes to the park for a game of golf, and quickly gets at odds with some workers who are laying a cement walk.

Leaving

August 2009 •French

A bourgeois housewife, planning to go back to work as a physiotherapist after having devoted 20 years to her husband and two children, has her comfortable, elegant life turned upside down when she falls for a Spanish builder and begins a runaway affair.

Tyler Perry's The Family That Preys

September 2008 •English

Wealthy socialite Charlotte Cartwright and her dear friend Alice Pratt, a working class woman of high ideals, have enjoyed a lasting friendship throughout several decades. Recently, their lives have become mired in turmoil as their adult children’s extramarital affairs, unethical business practices, and a dark secret threaten to derail family fortunes and unravel the lives of all involved. Charlotte and Alice decide to take a breather from it all by making a cross-country road trip in which they rediscover themselves and possibly find a way to save their families from ruin.

Osmosis Jones

August 2001 •English

A white blood cell policeman, with the help of a cold pill, must stop a deadly virus from destroying the human they live in, Frank.

Disaster

December 1948 •English

A construction worker wanted by the authorities is vindicated by virtue of his heroism when an airplane crashes into a skyscraper.

CJ7

January 2008 •

A poor construction worker, who struggles to keep his son in private school, mistakes an orb he finds in a junkjard for a toy which proves to be much, much more once the young boy starts to play with it.

Norwegian Building Blocks

February 1972 •Norwegian

A young couple decides to build their dream house, but run into numerous complications in the process. Everything from useless carpenters to building control gets in their way. Norwegian comedian Rolv Wesenlund plays 7 different roles in this movie.

Ruutana

April 2001 •Finnish

The Fighting Seabees

January 1944 •English

Construction workers in World War II in the Pacific are needed to build military sites, but the work is dangerous and they doubt the ability of the Navy to protect them. After a series of attacks by the Japanese, something new is tried, Construction Battalions (CBs=Seabees). The new CBs have to both build and be ready to fight.

Neo Tokyo

April 1989 •Japanese

A trilogy of separate stories. In "Labyrinth labyrinthos", a girl and her cat enter a strange world. In "Running Man", a racer takes on the ultimate opponent. In "Construction Cancellation Order", a man must shut down worker robots.

The Fall from Heaven

April 2014 •Turkish

A woman works as electrical engineer in a construction site where mostly Kurdish workers are employed. After the death of her brother in a clash during his military service, she starts to behave the workers including the illegally employed worker man who is secretly in love with her, like enemies.

Trace of Stones

June 1966 •German

Bad planning and shortages prevail on an East German construction site. Foreman Hannes Balla uses unconventional methods to overcome the problems. New Socialist Unity Party secretary Werner Horrath is charged with bringing the rough-and-ready builder crew into line. The task seems doomed to fail as the two men compete for the affections of young engineer Kati Klee. But when she gets pregnant by married man Horrath, he is in danger of being expelled from the party, and Balla takes his side...

Lilies of the Field

June 1963 •English

An unemployed construction worker heading out west stops at a remote farm in the desert to get water when his car overheats. The farm is being worked by a group of East European Catholic nuns, headed by the strict mother superior, who believes the man has been sent by God to build a much needed church in the desert.

Betsy's Wedding

June 1990 •English

Offbeat fashion student Betsy Hopper and her straight-laced investment-banker fiancé Jake Lovell just want an intimate little wedding reception, but Betsy's father Eddie, a Long Island construction contractor, feels so threatened by Jake's rich WASP parents that he blows the ceremony up into a bank-breaking showpiece, sending his wife Lola into a financial panic.