Substitute

The Navigators

September 2001 •English

In South Yorkshire, a small group of railway maintenance men discover that because of privatization, their lives will never be the same. When the trusty British Rail sign is replaced by one reading East Midland Infrastructure, it is clear that there will be the inevitable winners and losers as downsizing and efficiency become the new buzzwords.

Richelieu

September 2023 •French

A French-to-Spanish interpreter working for a food processing plant that hires seasonal workers from Guatemala is, at first determined to obey the sometimes excessive directives of the young boss, but she befriends the workers and tries to defend them against the exploitation they suffer.

Pôle Emploi, Ne quittez pas !

November 2014 •French

This is the story of a team of 40 agents facing 4,000 job seekers at a job centre in the Parisian suburbs. Samia, Corinne, Thierry, Zuleika must support and monitor, bring in the numbers, obey policy guidelines and communication injunctions, and find job offers while none is to be found. Will their strong sense of humor save them from the Kafkaian world they work in?

Travail forcé, le SOS d'un prisonnier chinois

November 2023 •French

The True Cost

May 2015 •English

Film from Andrew Morgan. The True Cost is a documentary film exploring the impact of fashion on people and the planet.

Anxiety

June 1974 •Turkish

This award winning, 1974 film by Yilmaz Güney, the legend of Turkish Cinema, tells the story of Cevher and his family and their daily struggles as seasonal workers in the cotton fields of Southern Turkey. Cevher depends on the family earnings from the fields to pay blood money for a murder one of his relatives committed. ANXIETY documents and criticizes the feudal traditions, corruption and inhumane working conditions, while the workers are coming to terms with the machines that are rapidly modernizing the landscape.

Mr. Prokouk, The Inventor

July 1949 •Czech

After a hard day at work, Mr. Prokouk decides to invent a machine to ease his labor. But inventing is work too, and Mr. Prokouk spends more time dreaming about inventions than actually inventing anything. Can he find an easy solution?

Waiting for the Carnival

February 2019 •Portuguese

A documentary film about the Brazilian town of Toritama, the self-proclaimed capital of jeans. The workers of the city’s self-managed small businesses only get one real break from their self-exploiting lives in the textile business: the annual Carnival.

Building the American Dream

March 2019 •English

In Texas, construction workers face the deadliest conditions in the country. This documentary follows three immigrant families who are rising up to seek justice and equality in an industry rife with exploitation.

L'Amour vache

March 2023 •French

Le Siècle des couturières

March 2022 •French

Misery Loves Comedy

January 2015 •English

Do you have to be miserable to be funny? More than sixty comedians—including stand-ups, writers, actors, and directors from the US, Canada, and abroad—take on this question, sharing anecdotes and insights with lively enthusiasm.

Nous paysans

February 2021 •French

In barely a century, French peasants have seen their world profoundly turned upside down. While they once made up the vast majority of the country, today they are only a tiny minority and are faced with an immense challenge: to continue to feed France. From the figure of the simple tenant farmer described by Emile Guillaumin at the beginning of the 20th century to the heavy toll paid by peasants during the Great War, from the beginnings of mechanization in the inter-war period to the ambivalent figure of the peasant under the Occupation, From the unbridled race to industrialization in post-war France to the realization that it is now necessary to rethink the agricultural model and invent the agriculture of tomorrow, the film looks back at the long march of French peasants.

Paul F. Tompkins: Laboring Under Delusions

April 2012 •English

When it comes to odd jobs, Paul F. Tompkins has experienced them all, stand-up comedian included. In this extended and uncensored stand-up special, Paul (supported by his impressive mustache) takes us on a hilarious tour of his varied career. Relive his glory days as an employee at a Beta-only video store, a hat shop salesman catering to tourists looking for "king hats," an actor with an improbable cameo in an epic film, and an anxious host of Best Week Ever.

No More God in Doctor

December 2020 •French

Emergency medicine intern Margaux can no longer stand it. During another very hectic and patient-filled shift, she forgets a homeless woman on a stretcher who then dies. Shocked Margaux has no choice but to continue working. But suddenly, her body starts sweating blood uncontrollably.

The Inner Harbor

April 1990 •Swedish

A documentary about the dockworkers in Gothenburg, and the future of the shipping industry in the city.

Radium City

January 1988 •English

Documentary about the Radium Dial Company and the aftereffects experienced by its workers from repeated exposure to radioactive paint.

Beyond Ratings

February 2024 •Hindi

Three women share their experience of navigating the app-world in the metro city. The sharings reveal gendered battles as platform workers and the tiresome reality of gig-workers' identities against the absent bosses, masked behind their apps. Filmed in the streets of New Delhi, the protagonists share about their door-to-door gigs, the surveillance at their workplaces and the absence of accountability in the urban landscape.

La Ferme des Bertrand

January 2024 •French

1972 in Haute-Savoie (France) : the Bertrand's farm, with a hundred dairy cows owned by three bachelor brothers, is filmed for the first time. In 1997, they were the subject of Gilles Perret's first movie, as they let their farm to their nephew Patrick and his wife Hélène. Nowadays, 25 years later, Gilles Perret take another look at this farm, managed by Hélène who will step down. Through their words, an intimate, social and economic history of the rural world.

Como Se Fosse da Família

December 2013 •English

Áurea and Vander, maids all his life, reflect on the new law regulating the profession.