Morristown: In the Air and Sun
Thematic Chair-Making, Ship-Breaking, Pole-Dancing, Coal-Mining, Thread-Cutting, Cart-Pushing, Cane-Cutting, Chain-Forging: Films on Work & Labor Curated by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert
There is a seeming paradox in the flow of Mexican labor to the U.S.: as manufacturing jobs move south and Americans lose jobs, more and more Mexican workers move north in search of work. This complex issue is writ small in Morristown, Tennessee, where American displaced workers and Mexican immigrants live in uneasy proximity. Humanizing—and muddying—the extreme viewpoints on both sides of the immigration and free-trade debates, this film shows sympathy for all caught up in the drive for globalization. Filmmaker Anne Lewis takes us to the fields and factory floors where Mexicans work at “jobs that Americans won’t do,” and presents their struggles to organize. We see that the links between Morristown and Mexico are being strengthened, sometimes in surprising ways, by the global economy and multinational corporations that influence the flow of labor and capital. The way the inhabitants of both places live and work (or don’t) is a testament to how the dislocating effects of so-called free-trade agreements have over the past two decades cemented into place a permanent, migratory underclass within our borders, and within Mexico’s. AK
Director
Anne Lewis
Producers
Appalshop, Inc.
Editor
Anne Lewis
Cinematographer
Peter Pearce
Release Year
2007
Festival Year
2010
Country
United States
Run Time
60 minutes