Labour Equals Freedom (2004)

Life as a House

When a man is diagnosed with terminal cancer, he takes custody of his misanthropic teenage son, for whom quality time means getting high, engaging in small-time prostitution, and avoiding his father.

Rosetta

Young, impulsive Rosetta lives a hard and stressful life as she struggles to support herself and her alcoholic mother. Refusing all charity, she is desperate to maintain a dignified job.

Velaiyilla Pattathari

Raghuvaran, who is unemployed for years, gets his dream job but a powerful rival is keen to put him down. Can he take on his adversary?

Flesh

A heroin junkie works as a prostitute to support his habit and fund an abortion needed by the girlfriend of his lesbian wife. His seedy encounters with delusional and damaged clients, and dates with drag queens and hustlers are heavy on sex, drugs and decadence.

Fabian: Going to the Dogs

In 1930s Berlin, Dr. Jakob Fabian, who works by day in advertising for a cigarette company and by night wanders the streets of the city, falls in love with an actress. As her career begins to blossom, prospects for his future begin to wane.

Bicycle Thieves

Unemployed Antonio is elated when he finally finds work hanging posters around war-torn Rome. However on his first day, his bicycle—essential to his work—gets stolen. His job is doomed unless he can find the thief. With the help of his son, Antonio combs the city, becoming desperate for justice.

You're Not Alone

Master painter Hans Moll and his wife, the television announcer Ms. Wellinek and her husband, and the German-Russian Jew Yevgenia have many things to live on: food, drink, an apartment. What they do not have is work. They all discover the yearning for a chance to start all over again and bring themselves back to life.

Import/Export

A nurse from Ukraine searches for a better life in the West, while an unemployed security guard from Austria heads East for the same reason. Both are looking for work, a new beginning, an existence, struggling to believe in themselves, to find a meaning in life...

Take My Eyes

One winter night, Pilar runs away from home. With her, she takes only a few belongings and her son, Juan. Antonio soon sets out to look for her. He says Pilar is his sunshine, and what's more, "She gave him her eyes"...

Pather Panchali

A depiction of the life of an impoverished early twentieth century rural Bengali family.

Modern Times

A bumbling tramp desires to build a home with a young woman, yet is thwarted time and time again by his lack of experience and habit of being in the wrong place at the wrong time..

Paradise Now

Two childhood friends are recruited for a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv.

Change of Heart

Catherine and Mack and their close friends Chris and Madge graduate from a West Coast college and fly to New York City to find work.

Summer in Berlin

When you read the title ‘Summer on the Balcony’ you probably think it will be a light Berlin summer comedy but it’s not. This film is an intimate study of two women friends who come to each other because of troubles with everyday life and with men and thus try to enjoy a life based on their ideas.

Tough Enough

From the youth directed novel of the same name by Greogor Tressnow comes a film by Detlev Buck that is a realistic portrait of life in the section of Berlin called Neukölln. It’s about power and weakness, delinquents and victims, and the difficulties a 15-year-old faces in a poor and criminal environment.

Once Were Warriors

A drama about a Maori family living in Auckland, New Zealand. Lee Tamahori tells the story of Beth Heke’s strong will to keep her family together during times of unemployment and abuse from her violent and alcoholic husband.

Kuhle Wampe or Who Owns the World?

Kuhle Wampe takes place in early-1930s Berlin. The film begins with a montage of newspaper headlines describing steadily-rising unemployment figures. This is followed by scenes of a young man looking for work in the city and the family discussing the unpaid back rent. The young man, brother of the protagonist Anni, removes his wristwatch and throws himself from a window out of despair. Shortly thereafter his family is evicted from their apartment. Now homeless, the family moves into a garden colony of sorts with the name “Kuhle Wampe.”

Days and Clouds

Set in Genoa, the film concerns the financial struggles and emotional strain that occur after Michele loses his job. He and his wife Elsa are forced to give up their affluent lifestyle and cope with the tensions of moving into a smaller home, finding new work, and making sacrifices.

The Attendant

Frankie is a car park attendant at the spectacular Giant’s Causeway in Co. Antrim. His friend Cathy and her husband Paul are in trouble. Nevertheless as Frankie always says, "Something will turn up!"

Drifting Clouds

The ever-poker-faced Ilona loses her job as a restaurant hostess, as her tram driver husband, Lauri, also finds himself out of work. Together they must hit the streets of Helsinki, facing up to hardship and humiliation in their quest for survival, guided through the gloom by a ray of hope.

According to Plan

It's mom's birthday and her three daughters want to throw a big party. But everything turns out differently. It's not just because the divorced dad arrives a few days early and brings his much-too-young new girlfriend with him, or because the birthday girl has to stage the end of the world with her village theater group.

The Survivors

Having both lost their jobs, two strangers become unlikely friends after a run in with a would be robber, who is actually a hitman with a grudge against the two.

That Sinking Feeling

Ronnie, Wal, Andy and Vic are four bored, unemployed teens in dreary, rainy Glasgow. Ronnie comes up with a great idea. He has noticed that stainless steel sinks are worth a lot of money and comes up with a complicated scheme: to steal sinks from a warehouse dressed as girls and using a stop-motion-potion.

Post Grad

Ryden Malby has a master plan. Graduate college, get a great job, hang out with her best friend and find the perfect guy. But her plan spins hilariously out of control when she’s forced to move back home with her eccentric family.

Distant

A young man from rural Turkey arrives in Istanbul with dreams working on a ship and stays with a cousin while he searches for work. Over time, the former’s struggles to find employment and the latter’s troubles and disappointments strain their relationship and living situation.

The Ax

A chemist loses his job to outsourcing. Two years later and still jobless, he hits on a solution: to genuinely eliminate his competition.

The Van

In a working-class quarter of Dublin, 'Bimbo' Reeves gets laid off from his job and, with his redundancy payout, buys a van and sells fish and chips with his buddy, Larry. Due to Ireland's surprising success at the 1990 FIFA World Cup, their business starts off well, but the relationship between the two friends soon becomes strained as Bimbo behaves more like a typical boss.

Renaissance Man

An advertising man is slowly sliding downhill. When he is fired from his job in Detroit, he signs up for unemployment. One day they find him a job: teaching thinking skills to Army recruits. He arrives on base to find that there is no structure set up for the class.

Gung Ho

When a western Pennsylvania auto plant is acquired by a Japanese company, brokering auto worker Hunt Stevenson faces the tricky challenge of mediating the assimilation of two clashing corporate cultures. At one end is the Japanese plant manager and the sycophant who is angling for his position. At the other, a number of disgruntled long-time union members struggle with the new exigencies of Japanese quality control.

All My Girls

Ralf Paeschke is a film student who has to make a documentary film about a group of women working in a lamp factory. There is brazen Susie, mischievous Kerstin, lonely Anita, single Ella, withdrawn Gertrud and the imposing forewoman. When Kerstin is suspected of stealing, tension among the women mounts. Ralf demands that things be clarified, and his film plays an unexpected role in the matter.

The Adversary

Siddhartho Chowdhury, a brilliant young medical student, is forced to leave his studies after his father's sudden demise. He is forced to navigate the high unemployment rate and the communist socio-political climate of 1960s Calcutta in search of a job. He lives in a flat with his younger, employed sister, revolutionary brother and widowed mother. The strain of the situation ultimately causes him to hallucinate.

We'll Get Back to You

The only cure of being jobelessness, unhappy and hopelessness is friendship, life is beautiful together.

Love Will Tear Us Apart

The film gets under the skin of a very marginalized group: recent immigrants to Hong Kong from Mainland China. Belying the expectation that they will belong in a territory now returned to China's sovereignty, they find themselves lonely, frustrated, poor, and employable only in the most menial jobs, from elevator service staff to prostitution.

Right to Work March

They're young, unemployed and on the march - from Glasgow, Liverpool and Swansea to London.

Kattradhu Thamizh

A young Tamil-postgraduate, frustrated with the circumstances and futility of his job, slowly loses his mental balance and becomes a sociopath.

Liliom

Two women love the same man in a world of few prospects. In Budapest, Liliom is a "public figure," a rascal who's a carousel barker, loved by the experienced merry-go-round owner and by a young, innocent maid. The maid, Julie, loses her job after going out with Liliom; he's fired by his jealous employer for going out with Julie. The two lovers move in with Julie's aunt; unemployment emasculates him and a local weasel tempts him with crime. Julie, now wan, is true to Liliom even in his bad temper. Meanwhile, a stolid widower, a carpenter, wants to marry Julie. Is there any future on this earth for Julie and Liliom, whose love is passionate rather than ideal?

The Measure of a Man

At the age of 51 and after 20 months on unemployment, Thierry starts a new job that soon brings him face to face with a moral dilemma. How much is he willing to accept to keep his job?

Living It Up

A recently laid off steel mill worker in a little seaside town starts losing his wife to a local TV anchor.

Somewhere in Love

Nicole and her son Serge live in a low-income housing estate in the Paris suburbs, where their love for each other thrives against all odds. But as Christmas approaches, Nicole has her checkbook and credit card confiscated, turning their relationship and their lives upside down.

Advantageous

In a near-future city where soaring opulence overshadows economic hardship, Gwen and her daughter, Jules, do all they can to hold on to their joy, despite the instability surfacing in their world.

Marius and Jeannette

Jeannette is a single mother living in a working-class community in Marseilles; she tries to support herself and her two kids on her salary as a check-out girl at a supermarket and lives in an apartment complex where everyone is thrown into close proximity with everyone else. Marius is working as a security guard at a cement factory that has gone out of business; he's also squatting in the building, since the plant is soon to be demolished and he'll be needing his money later on. One day, Jeannette happens by the factory, and spotting several cans of paint, tries to take two of them home with her. Marius spots her and tries to chase her away, while she rails at him with curses against the capitalist system. The next day, an apologetic Marius appears at her doorstep, cans of paint in hand; the two soon become friendly, and a romance begins to bloom, though it quickly becomes obvious that Jeannette's romance novel fantasies are a bit off the mark from what Marius has in mind.

Varumayin Niram Sivappu

Three educated but unemployed youth who have come to live in a bustling, harsh metropolis struggle to earn a living.

Il toro

After being fired from his bull breeding job without proper compensation, Franco steals a world-class bull from his former employer and smuggles it to Hungary, planning to sell it for a large sum of money.

Raining Stones

Proud, though poor, Bob wants his little girl to have a beautiful (and costly) brand-new dress for her First Communion. His stubbornness and determination get him into trouble as he turns to more and more questionable measures, in his desperation to raise the needed money. This tragic flaw leads him to risk all that he loves and values, his beloved family, indeed even his immortal soul and salvation, in blind pursuit of that goal.

MOTHER

Shuhei is leading a tough life. His alcoholic mother Akiko can only hook up with bad guys and order Shuhei to go get money from his disapproving grandparents instead of going to school. Except raising the little half-sister, his rock-bottom life seems to have no end.

No Place to Go

Michiko used to work as a live-in part-timer at an izakaya, but suddenly lost her job and her house at the same time due to COVID-19 pandemic. There are no new jobs because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and diners and internet cafes are closed. Michiko is at her wits' end, but there in front of her is a bus stop that stands slightly brightly in the darkness, illuminated only by the streetlights.

Cosas que hacen que la vida valga la pena

Hortensia is a mature officer of the INEM office. She has been abandoned by her husband so she doesn't believe in love anymore. One day Eduardo Fernandez goes to the employment office because after overcoming a deep depression, he has decided that his life has to get better.

Wings for the Eagle

Aircraft workers during during World War II become involved in a love triangle.

The Man Who Lived Twice

A hardened criminal is transformed into a responsible member of society after he undergoes plastic surgery.

Midnight Mary

While on trial for her life, a young woman recalls her tough upbringing and her involvement with the men who brought her to this current state of affairs.

Kadhalum Kadanthu Pogum

A small-time rowdy fresh out of prison and a runaway woman seeking a new life in Chennai become unexpected neighbors. Bound by loneliness, they form an unusual bond—one that teeters between friendship and love. As they navigate their struggles together, their lives take a heartwarming turn in this charming romantic comedy-drama.

The Whole Family Works

Father of nine children cannot find a job. Despite their aspirations, the children are encouraged by both parents to hold down menial jobs and contribute to the family expenses.

Nomadland

A woman in her sixties embarks on a journey through the western United States after losing everything in the Great Recession, living as a van-dwelling modern-day nomad.

Estanislao

After 15 years, Mateo returns to the old textile factory to say goodbye to his recently deceased mother. Incidentally, he will have to spend time with his alcoholic father, whom he can't stand.

Plan 75

In a Japan of the near future, the government program Plan 75 encourages senior citizens to be voluntarily euthanized to remedy a super-aged society. An elderly woman whose means of survival are vanishing, a pragmatic Plan 75 salesman, and a young Filipino laborer face choices of life and death.

The Merry Monahans

The film concerns a family vaudeville troupe headed by patriarch Pete Monahan. Because of his love affair with the bottle, Pete manages to get himself and his family blacklisted from every major vaude house in the country. Though Pete's kids Jimmy and Patsy love their dad, they're forced to break away from the act and go off on their own to survive. Eventually, the whole gang is reunited in a shamelessly lachrymose musical finale.

Two Days, One Night

Sandra is a young woman who has only one weekend to convince her colleagues they must give up their bonuses in order for her to keep her job — not an easy task in this economy.

The Knowledge

Four men attempt "The Knowledge" examination to qualify as London taxi drivers.

Four Shades of Brown

An eccentric millionaire dies at a manor in Dalarna in Sweden, leaving behind three sons and a mistress. One of four parallel stories about parents and children. Four sides of Sweden. Four shades of brown.