Blow for Blow

Happiness

October 1998 •English

The lives of several individuals intertwine as they go about their lives in their own unique ways, engaging in acts which society as a whole might find disturbing in a desperate search for human connection.

Güeros

April 2014 •Spanish

Set amidst the 1999 student strikes in Mexico City, this coming-of-age tale finds two brothers venturing through the city in a sentimental search for an aging legendary musician. Shot in black-and-white, Güeros brims with youthful exuberance.

Animal Factory

October 2000 •English

Suburbanite Ron is spoiled, young and not overly worried about the marijuana charges leveled against him. But, after being made out to be a drug dealer, he faces a five-year jail sentence in San Quentin State Prison. Physically frail and unaccustomed to his rough surroundings, Ron is primed to fall victim to sexual predators and bullying guards – that is, until he's befriended by Earl, a veteran inmate who finds meaning in protecting the vulnerable new kid.

Follow You Follow Me

October 1979 •English

When a work-related dispute erupts between their fathers, the friendship of teenagers Joseph and Peter is put under strain.

Gandhi

December 1982 •English

In the early years of the 20th century, Mohandas K. Gandhi, a British-trained lawyer, forsakes all worldly possessions to take up the cause of Indian independence. Faced with armed resistance from the British government, Gandhi adopts a policy of 'passive resistance', endeavouring to win freedom for his people without resorting to bloodshed.

Billy Elliot

September 2000 •English

County Durham, England, 1984. The miners' strike has started and the police have started coming up from Bethnal Green, starting a class war with the lower classes suffering. Caught in the middle of the conflict is 11-year old Billy Elliot, who, after leaving his boxing club for the day, stumbles upon a ballet class and finds out that he's naturally talented. He practices with his teacher Mrs. Wilkinson for an upcoming audition in Newcastle-upon Tyne for the royal Ballet school in London.

Punyalan Agarbattis

November 2013 •Malayalam

Punyalan Agarbattis is the story of Joy Thakkolkaran, a young entrepreuner from Thrissur. His new business venture 'Punyalan Agarbattis' involves manufacturing agarbattis from elephant dung. Fragrance and quality of his incense sticks aside, its mosquito repellant capabilities too have pleased those who tried the samples. However, Joy suddenly has a new set of people and problems as 'Punyalan Agarbattis' comes to a halt.

Man of Iron

July 1981 •Polish

In Warsaw in 1980, the Communist Party sends disgruntled radio reporter Winkel to Gdańsk to dig up dirt on the shipyard strikers - particularly on Maciek Tomczyk, an independent labour union leader whose father was killed in the December 1970 protests. Posing as sympathetic, Winkel interviews the people surrounding Tomczyk, including his detained wife, Agnieszka.

The Night Before the Strike

March 1990 •Korean

There are 200 miserably impoverished people working in the Dongseong Metalworks Factory. Ju Wan-ik is introduced to the forging team as a new member of the team and they all go drinking together to welcome him.

Tout Va Bien

April 1972 •French

A strike at a French sausage factory contributes to the estrangement of a married filmmaker and his reporter wife.

Lady Caliph

December 1970 •Italian

La Califfa's husband was killed during the strikes so she takes the side of the strikers. Her conflict with the plant owner Doverdo gradually turns into a love relationship.

A Room in Town

October 1982 •French

Set against the backdrop of an increasingly violent strike, a worker falls in love with the middle-class daughter of his landlady.

Exergo

May 2024 •Basque

Departing from peripheral details of some paintings of the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum, a female narrator unravels several stories related to the economic, social and psychological conditions of past and current artists.

The Funeral

January 1996 •English

After the funeral of one of their own, a criminal family decides to embark on an emotionally unnerving journey in an attempt to exact bloody revenge.

Nasib

March 2021 •Tajik

Anora, a Tajik teenage girl, experiences the coming of age. Due to the ambiguity related to her absent father, the closed borders caused by the pandemic, and the fear of uncertainty, Anora has to grow up in the course of a night.

A Matter of Sex

January 1984 •English

Dramatization of the true story of the so-called Willmar Eight, a group of Minnesota bank workers who braved freezing conditions whilst picketing their branch in a struggle for union rights.

Lupeni 29

February 1963 •Romanian

Wedding Wars

December 2006 •English

In the midst of organizing his brother Ben's wedding, Shel, a gay party planner, decides to go on strike for equal rights when he learns that Ben is behind a political speech against gay marriage.

Salt of the Earth

March 1954 •English

At New Mexico's Empire Zinc mine, Mexican-American workers protest the unsafe work conditions and unequal wages compared to their Anglo counterparts. Ramon Quintero helps organize the strike, but he is shown to be a hypocrite by treating his pregnant wife, Esperanza, with a similar unfairness. When an injunction stops the men from protesting, however, the gender roles are reversed, and women find themselves on the picket lines while the men stay at home.

The Most Beautiful

April 1944 •Japanese

The stories of several young women who work in a 'precision optical instruments' factory during the second World War. Despite illness, injury, and tremendous personal hardship, the women persevere in their tasks, devoted to their work and their country's cause.