All Things Bakelite: The Age of Plastic

Of Boats and Brothers: The Yacht Building Herreshoffs

April 1995 •English

This award-winning documentary film chronicles the accomplishments and relationship of John and Nathanael Herreshoff. These determined brothers overcame all obstacles, including blindness, to earn a worldwide reputation in yacht design and construction.

Lotus: A New Dawn

July 2021 •English

This short documentary follows the fortunes of iconic car manufacturer Lotus. Once famous for its championship-winning race cars and iconic sports cars, Lotus has struggled to remain in profit. A new investor and managing director set out to build the first new Lotus road cars in over a decade: their final petrol-powered car Emira and their first pure electric British hypercar, the 2000bhp Evija.

The High Cost of Cheap Gas

January 2015 •English

The environmental problems caused by fracking in America have been well publicized but what's less known are the gas industry's plans for expansion in other countries. This investigation, filmed in Botswana, South Africa and North America, reveals how gas companies are quietly invading some of the most protected places on the planet.

Steel Town

January 1944 •English

Documentary examining the steel industry in Youngstown, Ohio during World War II. Focuses on steel production, including the smelting process, slagging and the blast furnace. Workers reflect upon their lives and the importance of their jobs. Emphasizes the importance of teamwork in the mills and on the plant's labor relations committee to help win the war. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2012.

Decision for Chemistry

March 1954 •English

Surveys the role of chemistry in American life and the central role of the people, products, and plants of Monsanto.

Manufactured Landscapes

September 2006 •English

MANUFACTURED LANDSCAPES is the striking new documentary on the world and work of renowned artist Edward Burtynsky. Internationally acclaimed for his large-scale photographs of “manufactured landscapes”—quarries, recycling yards, factories, mines and dams—Burtynsky creates stunningly beautiful art from civilization’s materials and debris.

La zuppa del demonio

September 2014 •Italian

Endless Letterpress

March 2019 •Spanish

Facing deteriorating machines and the advance of new technologies, Argentine printing presses are closing up their shops. A group of young designers has rediscovered this great technical innovation in the history of the written word – the typesetting printing press – but the technique is difficult to learn, passed down from master to apprentice. The last press mechanic in the country will be in charge of teaching them so that this historic technique endures.

Tora-san of Goto

June 2016 •Japanese

This documentary film follows for 22 years a nine-member family involved in the manufacturing of Udon in the Goto Islands, Nagasaki prefecture. Mr. Toru Inuzuka called by nickname "Tora-san" is making famous 'Goto Udon' and natural salt on the island on which the depopulation is progressing. Seven children get up at 5 o'clock every morning, helping to make udon, and go to school. Children's help is recorded on the time card, and it is pocket money for children. The film talks about children's growth, marriage, childbirth, homecoming, and parting. The 22 years of familiarity of the family is drawn.

Henry Ford's America

October 1977 •English

A study of the automobile and its pervasive effect on the history of North America. Focusing on the Ford dynasty, from the original Henry car through to Henry II, the film demonstrates how society has adapted to fit the needs of the automobile.

Jobs for All!

April 2021 •Swedish

A highly choreographed review of the Industrial Age as we know it today – an intense and playful roller coaster ride that demands the viewer confronts how “work works.” Culled entirely from archival footage, the film unfolds in the filmmakers’ trademark, and humorously critical, cinematic voices.

Kainai

January 1973 •English

On the Kainai (Blood) First Nations Reserve, near Cardston, Alberta, a hopeful new development in Indigenous enterprise. Once rulers of the western plains, the Bloods live on a 1 300-square-kilometer reserve. Many have lacked gainful employment and now pin their hopes on a pre-fab factory they have built. Will the production line and work and wages fit into their cultural pattern of life? The film shows how it is working and what the owners themselves say about their venture.

Steel - Variations on a Theme

April 1960 •German

Blue Vinyl

January 2002 •English

With humor, chutzpah and a piece of vinyl siding firmly in hand, Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Judith Helfand and co-director and award-winning cinematographer Daniel B. Gold set out in search of the truth about polyvinyl chloride (PVC), America's most popular plastic. From Long Island to Louisiana to Italy, they unearth the facts about PVC and its effects on human health and the environment.

The Song of Styrene

December 1957 •French

Le chant du Styrène is a 1958 French documentary film directed by Alain Resnais. The film was an order by French industrial group Pechiney to highlight the merits of plastics.

Packard: The Last Shift

March 2014 •English

The Packard Motor Car Company and its 5-million square foot plant became a symbol of the American Dream in the heart of the Motor City. Packard left town in 1954, but the plant still stands as a symbol of decay. The half-mile stretch of rubble and ruin tells a story of failed politics and criminal activity, of scrappers and arsonists who went too far, and of the perseverance of one business to stick it out. The lawless plant has become a haven for street artists and curiosity seekers from around the world, including a developer from Peru.

Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks

June 2004 •Chinese

A detailed look at the gradual decline of Shenyang’s industrial Tiexi district, an area that was once a vibrant example of China’s socialist economy. But industry is changing, and the factories of Tiexi are closing. Director Wang Bing introduces us to some of the workers affected by the closures, and to their families.

Death By China

August 2012 •English

In 2001, China joined the World Trade Organization with the strong support of a Democratic President and Republican Congress. Before the ink was dry on this free trade agreement, China began flooding U.S. markets with illegally subsidized exports while the big multinational companies that had lobbied heavily for the agreement rapidly accelerated the off shoring of American jobs to China. Today, as a result of the biggest shell game in American history, China has stolen millions of our jobs, corporate profits are soaring, and we now owe over $3 trillion to the world's largest totalitarian nation. This film is about how that happened... and why the best jobs program for America is trade reform with China.

Skleněné trubky

January 1955 •Czech

That's the Price

January 1970 •English

What happens to two dying coal towns in British Columbia when an American corporation provides a contract for millions of tons of coking coal? The film follows the consequences for the towns of Natal and Michel, suggesting that industrial growth has its price, especially with regard to the environment.