The Workers
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
In 1999 Money magazine ranked Austin, Texas, as the second-best place to live in America, and the building boom was at an all time high. But the workers filling critical construction jobs were most often day laborers, illegal immigrants from Mexico forced to leave their families across the border in order to provide basic necessities. Knowing they will have a different boss each day and unsure of their pay, they line up at five each morning at the day labor depot for a chance at a day’s work. Filmmaker Heather Courtney follows two immigrants, Juan and Ramón, for a year, and their stories make deeply personal one of the intractable political issues of our times. When the depot moves into a residential neighborhood, these needed but unwanted men find themselves in the midst of a town battle that reveals the fissures in our multicultural society. As with all immigration issues, it’s a complex problem with no easy answers that affects lots of decent people. RYS
Director
Heather Courtney
Producer
Heather Courtney
Editor
Heather Courtney
Cinematographers
Heather Courtney, Rene Peñaloza Galvan
Original Title
Los Trabajadores
Release Year
2003
Festival Year
2010
Country
United States, Mexico
Run Time
48 minutes