In the Land of Machines (2025)

Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory

Working men and women leave through the main gate of the Lumière factory in Lyon, France. Filmed on 22 March 1895, it is often referred to as the first real motion picture ever made, although Louis Le Prince's 1888 Roundhay Garden Scene pre-dated it by seven years. Three separate versions of this film exist, which differ from one another in numerous ways. The first version features a carriage drawn by one horse, while in the second version the carriage is drawn by two horses, and there is no carriage at all in the third version. The clothing style is also different between the three versions, demonstrating the different seasons in which each was filmed. This film was made in the 35 mm format with an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, and at a speed of 16 frames per second. At that rate, the 17 meters of film length provided a duration of 46 seconds, holding a total of 800 frames.

Grandin, les raisons d'une victoire

For a year, the women working at the Grandin factory in Montreuil, France occupy the place and lead numerous actions.

Colorless, Odorless

Colorless Odorless follows the work records and archival materials of victims of semiconductor biohazards, tracing the smells and effects of substances that cameras cannot capture. Testimonies of the past overlap with current symptoms, and the disaster repeats itself in other bodies and places.

Factory Complex

The drastic economic development in South Korea once surprised the rest of the world. However, behind of it was an oppression the marginalized female laborers had to endure. The film invites us to the lives of the working class women engaged in the textile industry of the 1960s, all the way through the stories of flight attendants, cashiers, and non-regular workers of today. As we encounter the vista of female factory workers in Cambodia that poignantly resembles the labor history of Korea, the form of labor changes its appearance but the essence of the bread-and-butter question remains still.

Tie Xi Qu: West of the Tracks

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.

The True Cost

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

Blood Money: Inside the Soviet Economy

How did the USSR - a country considered a second-rate industrial power, economically inferior to Germany, the USA and the UK - shape its victory over the armies of Hitler's regime, and secure its place among the winners?

American Factory

In post-industrial Ohio, a Chinese billionaire opens a new factory in the husk of an abandoned General Motors plant, hiring two thousand blue-collar Americans. Early days of hope and optimism give way to setbacks as high-tech China clashes with working-class America.

The Island of Shadows

The workers talk about the pleasure of starting work in a shipyard, the pride of making the vessel, and the recognition of workers and the high spirit of their novel struggle. There was solidarity everywhere, even in each other's mind. But there is no more energy in Hanjin Shipyard. The workers have been laid-off and the strike shows no sign of stopping. A 34 year-old worker committed suicide as well. It's the fourth who has become a martyr for the cause. Why have the laborers who worked at Hanjin shipyard separated like this? They are starting to ask themselves why they decided to hate each other.

The Empire of Shame

A documentary about the continuing case of Samsung semiconductor plant. The film is a story about nameless people wearing white coat, hat and mask worked in a clean room exposing eyes only.

In Syrien auf Montage

The film is a reportage showing the help of workers from the GDR in the industrial reconstruction of Syria. We witness the friendly relationship between workers from both countries, who are jointly involved in the construction of the cotton spinning mill in Homs. In impressive pictures the exoticism of the environment and the mentality of the Syrian hosts is shown. At the same time it becomes clear that the workers from the GDR become 'ambassadors of the GDR' through their collegial behaviour and good work.

Blow It to Bits

A mix of Rock and Roll and Blues are the secret for successful rebellion. When I took my camera to the middle of France where the GM&S factory was threatened by a permanent shut down, I felt like something extraordinary was about to take place. And it did. The lyrics were written by workers who have had enough! The tune was composed by people not afraid to go against even the rules of revolt! The volume was loud enough to attract the media. Their working-class concert spread across France like wild fire. I sat out of sight, camera in hand, filming like catching fish in a barrel.

Ascension

The film explores the pursuit of the “Chinese Dream.” Driven by mesmerizing—and sometimes humorous—imagery, this observational documentary presents a contemporary vision of China that prioritizes productivity and innovation above all.

The Golden Thread

In the heyday of the jute industry, millions of people in Bengal made their living doing this laborious work, which has hardly changed since the industrial revolution. The 100-year-old machinery has been endlessly repaired. State aid kept this sustainable alternative to plastic going, but its future looks bleak.

Five Towns

A look at a family living in Stoke-on-Trent in the 1940's and what it's like working in the pottery factories that Stoke is famous for.

Senzachiederepermesso

The story of the factory worker Pietro Perotti, who worked at Fiat Mirafiori from 1969 to 1985 and participated in the workers’ protests by overseeing communications inside the factory, making stickers, wall posters, texts and drawings in the bathrooms, figures out of papier-mâché and foam rubber, and turning the protest marches into “street theatre.” With his movie camera, Perotti immortalized the situations and workers’ protests at Mirafiori until 1974. Thanks to this unpublished material, the movie paints a fresco of factory life in what used to be Europe’s biggest metalworking factory.

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory

When eccentric candy man Willy Wonka promises a lifetime supply of sweets and a tour of his chocolate factory to five lucky kids, penniless Charlie Bucket seeks the golden ticket that will make him a winner.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

A young boy wins a tour through the most magnificent chocolate factory in the world, led by the world's most unusual candy maker.

My Daughter, the Socialist

Liza falls in love with one of her father's employees. Her socialistic ideas about employment drive her to collide with her father and the sociopolitical status of the time.

The Secret Life of Words

A solitary nurse bonds with a badly burned patient who survived an accident on an oil rig.

Blue Collar

Fed up with mistreatment at the hands of both management and union brass, and coupled with financial hardships on each man's end, three auto assembly line workers hatch a plan to rob a safe at union headquarters.

Bootmen

Sean Odkin loves to dance—much to his fathers distain. When the woman he loves cannot return his love, he goes in search of the only thing that can make him whole again—dancing.

Ömrümce Unutamadım

The film tells the story of Doğan, who is forced to leave the woman he loves. Doğan is a factory worker. He and Selma, who has no one but her sick mother, love each other and want to get married. The owner of the factory where Doğan works offers him to marry his daughter Meral. Doğan initially refuses the offer. However, he is forced to accept it in order to cover the medical expenses for Selma's mother, who suddenly falls ill. Doğan and Meral marry. Selma's mother dies during surgery. Selma marries Doğan's closest friend, Murat. Twenty years later, Doğan and Selma's children will meet.

The Closet

A man spreads the rumor of his fake homosexuality with the aid of his neighbor, to prevent his imminent firing at his work.

The Big Boss

Cheng is a young Chinese mainlander who moves in with his expatriate cousins to work at an ice factory in Thailand. He does this with a family promise never to get involved in any fights. However, when members of his family begin disappearing after meeting the management of the factory, the resulting mystery and pressures force him to break that vow and take on the villainy of the Big Boss.

Kendra and Beth

A dark comedy about the only female employee in the warehouse of a sausage company who forms an unlikely bond with a stranger that throws both their lives into disarray, leaving them forever changed.

Kinky Boots

Charles Price may have grown up with his father in the family shoe business in Northampton, central England, but he never thought that he would take his father's place. Charles has a chance encounter with the flamboyant drag queen cabaret singer Lola and everything changes.

Spotswood

Wallace is an efficiency expert, managing the high-profile downsizing of a major auto parts factory. But when he is hired to evaluate a small moccasin factory which seems from another era, Wallace has to reconsider the rapid modernization he advocates, as he is confronted by the human faces such plans hurt.

Struggling

A Chinese couple in the 1930s struggle to survive. Things get complicated for them when he enlists to fight the war against Japan.

Godard's Passion

While shooting a film, the director becomes interested in the unfolding struggle of a young factory worker that has been laid off by a boss who did not like her union activities.

Loves of a Blonde

Andula, an innocent Czech girl from a factory town, is desperately in search of love. She believes she's found it when she beds Milda, a charming young musician visiting from Prague. Milda, however, is only looking for a casual encounter, and leaves town assuming he'll never see Andula again. But when Andula doesn't hear from him, she packs up and heads to Prague, to the surprise of Milda and his parents.

Saturday Night and Sunday Morning

A 22-year-old factory worker lets loose on the weekends: drinking, brawling, and dating two women, one of whom is older and married.

Fat Slags

Leaving their hometown of Fulchester in the North of England, Sandra and Tracey head for the bright lights of London, shagging and boozing their way to fame and fortune.

Kuro Arirang

The film depicts the story of four people working in a sewing factory in Guro Industrial Complex in Seoul and the problems they face.

Asian Girls

Chan is a Chinese factory worker who lives alone. Every night, she suffers from horrific nightmares involving the woman in the apartment next door, a Japanese office lady.

Week in Paradise

Two professional executioners accidentally find love in a small factory town.

The Organizer

In the late 19th century, a former high school teacher turned unionist tries to organize workers laboring with inhuman conditions at a textile factory in Turin, Italy.

Europe '51

A wealthy, self-absorbed Rome socialite is racked by guilt over the death of her young son. As a way of dealing with her grief and finding meaning in her life, she decides to devote her time and money to the city’s poor and sick. Her newfound, single-minded activism leads to conflicts with her husband and questions about her sanity.

Camera Buff

Filip buys an 8mm movie camera when his first child is born. Because it's the first camera in town, he's named official photographer by the local Party boss. His horizons widen when he is sent to regional film festivals with his first works but his focus on movie making also leads to domestic strife and philosophical dilemmas.