Modern Business Machines

Machine Plate

Invalid date •Spanish

Nokia Mobile: We Were Connecting People

September 2017 •Finnish

Once upon a time there was a large Finnish company called Nokia that manufactured the world’s best and most innovative mobile phones. Nokia’s annual budget was larger than that of the Government of Finland and their phones spread everywhere and changed the whole culture of communication. But then something changed. Film portrays the rise and fall of Nokia and the Finnish mobile phone industry. Nokia engineers, designers and managers tell their story about the creation, success and downfall of the Finnish mobile phone.

Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price

November 2005 •English

This documentary takes the viewer on a deeply personal journey into the everyday lives of families struggling to fight Goliath. From a family business owner in the Midwest to a preacher in California, from workers in Florida to a poet in Mexico, dozens of film crews on three continents bring the intensely personal stories of an assault on families and American values.

The Corporation

September 2003 •English

Since the late 18th century American legal decision that the business corporation organizational model is legally a person, it has become a dominant economic, political and social force around the globe. This film takes an in-depth psychological examination of the organization model through various case studies. What the study illustrates is that in the its behaviour, this type of "person" typically acts like a dangerously destructive psychopath without conscience. Furthermore, we see the profound threat this psychopath has for our world and our future, but also how the people with courage, intelligence and determination can do to stop it.

The Price We Pay

September 2014 •English

A documentary on the history and present-day reality of big-business tax avoidance, which has seen multinationals depriving governments of trillions of dollars in tax revenues by harboring profits in offshore havens.

Laboratory Greece

December 2019 •English

A journey through Greece and Europe’s past and recent history: from the Second World War to the current crisis. It is a historical documentary, a look into many stories. «If Democracy can be destroyed in Greece, it can be destroyed throughout Europe» Paul Craig Roberts

Marjoe

July 1972 •English

Part documentary, part expose, this film follows one-time child evangelist Marjoe Gortner on the "church tent" Revivalist circuit, commenting on the showmanship of Evangelism and "the religion business", prior to the start of "televangelism". Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2005.

How Machines and Tools Help Us

January 1954 •English

Demonstrates that man has devised ways of making work easy with the aid of simple tools, engines and motors, and by harnessing such natural forces as wind and water.

The Big Squeeze

October 2021 •English

The computer game chain GameStop created so much chaos in the stock market that it forced large hedge funds to their knees. How could it happen? Here we follow different people who were brought together during 2020 because of their interest in GameStop's future. Some had invested in the chain's stock, others wondered about it. While the chain's employees trusted that the company would pay their salaries at a time when millions of people went bankrupt and became unemployed.

The Light Bulb Conspiracy

November 2010 •French

Once upon a time... consumer goods were built to last. Then, in the 1920’s, a group of businessmen realized that the longer their product lasted, the less money they made, thus Planned Obsolescence was born, and manufacturers have been engineering products to fail ever since. Combining investigative research and rare archive footage with analysis by those working on ways to save both the economy and the environment, this documentary charts the creation of ‘engineering to fail’, its rise to prominence and its recent fall from grace.

The Last Blockbuster

December 2020 •English

A documentary on the last remaining Blockbuster Video in Bend, Oregon.

The Trouble with Women

January 1959 •English

This short film illustrates some of the perceived problems a supervisor might face working with women, but ultimately demonstrates where the real problem lies.

Unraveled

April 2012 •English

Just days before Bernard Madoff captured headlines as the largest Ponzi schemer in U.S. history, Marc Dreier, a prominent Manhattan attorney, was arrested for orchestrating a massive fraud scheme that netted hundreds of millions of dollars from hedge funds. Brazen forgeries and impersonations branded the white collar crime spree remarkable. "Unraveled" is set in the purgatory of house arrest -- an Upper East Side penthouse -- where the Court has ordered Dreier confined until his sentencing day. The film weaves Dreier's struggle to prepare for the possibility of life imprisonment with first-person flashbacks, which reveal his audacious path of destruction. Destroyed by his own hubris, Dreier attempts to grasp his tragic unraveling. With unprecedented access, "Unraveled" exposes a mastermind of criminal deception.

Trump's Power & the Rule of Law

July 2025 •English

FRONTLINE goes inside the high-stakes showdown between President Donald Trump and the courts over presidential power. Trump allies, opponents and experts talk about how he is testing the extent of his power; the legal pushback; and the impact on the rule of law.

This Business of Autism

May 2018 •English

This Business Of Autism is an expository documentary film about the economic and societal benefits of employing young adults with autism. The film addresses the positive impacts of developing profitable businesses while leveraging the unique capabilities of adults with autism, at the crossroads of government programs, corporate social responsibility, entrepreneurship, and family.

Surviving Progress

November 2011 •English

Humanity’s ascent is often measured by the speed of progress. But what if progress is actually spiraling us downwards, towards collapse? Ronald Wright, whose best-seller, “A Short History Of Progress” inspired “Surviving Progress”, shows how past civilizations were destroyed by “progress traps”—alluring technologies and belief systems that serve immediate needs, but ransom the future. As pressure on the world’s resources accelerates and financial elites bankrupt nations, can our globally-entwined civilization escape a final, catastrophic progress trap? With potent images and illuminating insights from thinkers who have probed our genes, our brains, and our social behaviour, this requiem to progress-as-usual also poses a challenge: to prove that making apes smarter isn’t an evolutionary dead-end.

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.

The Typewriter (In the 21st Century)

January 2012 •English

30+ interviews in 10 U.S. states with authors, collectors, journalists, professors, bloggers, students, artists, inventors and repairmen (and women) who meet up for ‘Type-In’ gatherings to both celebrate and use their decidedly lo-tech typewriters in a plugged-in world.

Maimed Artist

August 1984 •English

Documentary that profiles Mark Pauline, the machine performance artist of Survival Research Laboratories. As the Title suggests, Pauline lost most of one hand during experimentation. 'Maimed Artist' explores the often destructive world of such performance art, where there is a fine line between entertainment and insanity.

A Scenic Harvest from the Kingdom of Pain

June 1984 •English

Documentation of three Survival Research Laboratories events, 1983-1984. Meet Stu, the SRL guinea pig, and see him training to operate the 4-legged Walking Machine, see 10-barrel shotguns, hear the "Stairway to Hell".