H-2 Worker
Thematic Program

Running Time:
70 minutes
Screening Info:
Saturday, April 10
10:00 pm
Cinema One
Director(s):
Stephanie Black
Producer(s):
Stephanie Black
Editor(s):
John Mullen
Cinematographer(s):
Maryse Alberti
Release Year:
1990
Country:
US

Each year thousands of Jamaicans temporarily immigrate to Florida to cut sugar cane by hand, work that is so dangerous and poorly paid than Americans won’t do it. But it offers more money than Jamaicans can hope to make at home, so, with H-2 visas for temporary and seasonal work, they crowd into dismal camp barracks, where for six months they are virtually held prisoner on a modern version of a plantation. Poorly fed and improperly treated for their inevitable injuries, working long, back-breaking hours, the men know that if they revolt in even the smallest way they risk being deported, and instantly replaced. Exposing a previously hidden system of indentured servitude through interviews and stunning, covertly shot 16mm footage, H-2 Worker received Sundance’s 1990 Grand Jury Award. The film is a shocking reminder of the travesties perpetuated on American soil, in this case with the help of the U.S. government’s H-2 program, in the name of Profit.  ST