#LaborOscars2024: 55 Labor Movies to Watch Before the Oscars
As the Academy Awards selections and ceremony approach, the Power At Work Blog is proud to shine a light on the films that feature worker power and unions, labor leaders, and workers' collective action.
We've curated a list of 55 labor films you should watch from several different genres that have addressed these important issues over many decades. Watch as many of these films as you can over the next few weeks leading up to the Academy Awards show because the Power At Work Blog is planning to ask your opinions about labor in films very soon.
Photo from Pixabay
To start a conversation about your favorite and least favorite labor films, to recommend these films to your friends or union siblings, or to add films to our list, post on Twitter/X, Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and LinkedIn and don't forget to include #LaborOscars2024 and tag us using @PowerAtWorkBlog.
Subscribe to the Power At Work Blog for more information about upcoming events, polls, and activities related to labor films!
Photo from Pixabay
55 Labor Movies to Watch Before the Oscars:
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Strike (1925), dir. Sergei Eisenstein
Metropolis (1927), dir. Fritz Lang
Black Fury (1935), dir. Michael Curtiz
The Devil and Miss Jones (1941), dir. Sam Wood
How Green Was My Valley (1941), dir. John Ford
On the Waterfront (1954), dir. Elia Kazan
Salt of the Earth (1954), dir. Herbert J. Biberman
Inside Detroit (1956), dir. Fred F. Sears
The Pajama Game (1957), dir. George Abbott & Stanley Donen
The Organizer (1963), dir. Mario Monicelli
The Land (1970), dir. Youssef Chahine
The Molly Maguires (1970), dir. Martin Ritt
Joe Hill (1971), dir. Bo Widerberg
Boxcar Bertha (1972), dir. Martin Scorsese
The Union (Il Sindacalista) (1972), dir. Luciano Salce
Harlan County, U.S.A. (1976), dir. Barbara Kopple
Union Maids (1977), dir. Julia Reichert & Jim Klein
F.I.S.T. (1978), dir. Norman Jewison
Northern Lights (1978), dir. John Hanson & Robert Nilsson
Blue Collar (1978), dir. Paul Schrader
Norma Rae (1979), dir. Martin Ritt
The Wobblies (1979), dir. Stewart Bird & Deborah Shaffer
Silkwood (1983), dir. Mike Nichols
The Killing Floor (1984), dir. Bill Duke
Final Offer (1985), dir. Sturla Gunnarsson & Robert Collison
Matewan (1987), dir. John Sayles
American Dream (1990), dir. Barbara Kopple
Hoffa (1992), dir. Danny Devito
Newsies (1992), dir. Kenny Ortega
Germinal (1993), dir. Claude Berri
At the River I Stand (1993), dir. David Appleby, Allison Graham, & Steven Ross
Out at Work (1997), dir. Kelly Anderson & Tami Gold
Bread & Roses (2000), dir. Ken Loach
American Standoff (2002), dir. Kristi Jacobson
10,000 Black Men Named George (2002), dir. Robert Townsend
The Take (2004), dir. Avi Lewis
Where Do You Stand? Stories from an American Mill (2004), dir. Alexandra Lescaze
North Country (2005), dir. Niki Caro
Maquilapolis (2006), dir. Vicky Funari
Made in Dagenham (2010), dir. Nigel Coles
Brothers on the Line (2012), dir. Sasha Reuther
Pride (2014), dir. Matthew Warchus
The Hand That Feeds (2014), dir. Robin Blotnick & Rachel Lears
Caesar Chavez (2014), dir. Diego Luna
Still the Enemy Within (2014), dir. Owen Gower
Pencils Down! The 100 Days of the Writers Guild Strike (2014), dir. Brian S. Kalata
The Factory (2015), dir. Rahul Roy
Blood on the Mountain (2016), dir. Jordan Freeman & Mari-Lynn C. Evans
- Union Time (2016), dir. Matthew Barr
We The Workers (2017), dir. Wenhai Huang
Divided We Fall (2017), dir. Victoria Acosta
Sorry to Bother You (2018), dir. Boots Riley
The Irishman (2019), dir. Martin Scorsese
9 to 5: The Story of a Movement (2021), dir. Julia Reichert & Steven Bognar
- Rustin (2023),dir. George C. Wolfe
Photo from Pixabay
Extending unemployment insurance to striking workers would cost little and encourage fair negotiations
#LaborOscars2024: 55 Labor Movies to Watch Before the Oscars