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UID:Indybay-18614923
SEQUENCE:18668801
CREATED:20090809T164100Z
DESCRIPTION:On 8/16 in at the San Jose Peace and Justice center there will be a 
 screening of "Workers Dreams" from Vietnam. This important documentary is 
 the first film on the lives of Vietnamese women who are working in the 
 electronic industry which is controlled by foreign multi-nationals. These 
 women mostly from rural areas come to Hanoi with dreams and find out the 
 reality of working for Japanese owned Canon in Vietnam.\n\nSan Jose Premier 
 Screening\n\n8/16 Screening Of "Workers Dreams"\n\nThe Labor Video Project 
 Presents A\n\nSouth Bay Screening And Discussion of "Workers 
 Dreams"\n\nSunday August 16th 3:00 PM\n\nSan Jose Peace Center\n\n48 S 7th 
 St # 101\n\nSan Jose, CA 95112-3544\n\n \n\n \n\n$5.00 Donation Request(no 
 one turned away from lack of funds)\n\nFor information 
 call\n\n(415)867-0628\n\n \n\nWorkers Dreams (50 min.) 2007 Vietnam\n\nBy 
 Tran Phuong Thao (With English subtitles)\n\n \n\nThousands of young women 
 now work in foreign owned factories in Vietnam for approximately $2 a day. 
 This film shows the lives of these young rural women who end up in a 
 Japanese Canon factory in the Hanoi area. Hoping to make a new life with 
 many consumer goods around them they are ground up in the capitalist system 
 and their dreams and illusions about the new Vietnam are 
 crushed.\n\nJournalist Bill Snyder will give a presentation about the film 
 and his trip to Vietnam.\n\n \n\nLabor Video Project\n\nP.O. Box 
 720027\n\nSan Francisco, CA 94172\n\nwww.laborvideo.org\n\n \n\nFlash 
 Forward 75 years to Vietnam:A Review Of Tran Phuong Thao Film “Workers 
 Dreams”\n\nBy Bill Snyder\n\n7/5/2009\n\nwww.billsnyder.biz\\n\n \n\nIn 
 1934 the life of a San Francisco longshoreman was dangerous, poorly paid 
 and insecure. Getting a day’s work often meant paying a bribe; and if a 
 man was hurt, that was his problem. Unemployment insurance? Never heard of 
 it.\n\n \n\nFlash forward 75 years to Vietnam: Early every morning, lines 
 of men and women trudge into the heavily guarded free-trade zone on the 
 outskirts of Hanoi to work at foreign-owned electronics factories. Their 
 pay? About $60 a month. And like the workers in 1934 San Francisco, getting 
 that job generally means paying a bribe.\n\n \n\nIt’s not called a bribe, 
 of course. Factory recruiters scour the still-impoverished countryside for 
 workers willing to pay as much as a full-month’s wages to the equivalent 
 of a temp agency in exchange for a job. What’s more, many of the jobs 
 last for just a few months, and come with few benefits and an unresponsive, 
 government-controlled union.\n\n \n\nVietnamese filmmaker Tran Phuong Thao 
 spent months documenting the lives of three young women who worked at the 
 Canon plant in Hanoi. Her 50-minute film, “Workers Dreams,” is not a 
 polemic. The young women speak for themselves. We get to know them as they 
 prepare for work, cook meager meals, and search for edibles in the rice 
 paddy just outside the factory gate.\n\n \n\nThere’s a lot of anger in 
 this movie, but for me, the most poignant moment takes place in a Hanoi 
 mall. Two of the women have gone there to shop a bit  -- they can’t 
 afford much --  and splurge on the treat of the week: A single can of Coca 
 Cola.  \n\n \n\nThere is, of course, a terrible irony in their situation. 
 Few people on earth have fought longer and shed more blood for freedom and 
 independence than the Vietnamese. But Vietnam is not a country where wealth 
 is shared or dissent permitted.\n\n \n\nOne unusually outspoken and 
 politically aware woman in the film put it this way: “We went from 
 working class heroes to cogs in the machine.” She was later fired and was 
 living on the street late in 2008.\n\n \n\nTran Phuong Thao graduated from 
 Ha Noi’s College of Foreign Trade. She received a Bachelor’s degree 
 from the Institute of Political Studies in Paris and a Master’s degree in 
 Documentary filmmaking in Poitier, France. Ms. Thao has directed 3 other 
 documentaries: Women’s Affairs for the Women’s Associate of Poitier; A 
 Hazard, submitted to the 5-Continent Film Festival 5/5, produced by the 
 Belgian production company, Dragon Film Co.; and A Letter to Dad, her 
 senior’s thesis film for the DESS in Poitier.\n\n \n 
 https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/08/09/18614923.php
SUMMARY:South Bay Screening Of "Workers Dreams" From Vietnam
LOCATION:San Jose Peace Center\n48 S 7th St # 101\nSan Jose, CA 95112-3544
URL:https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/08/09/18614923.php
DTSTART:20090816T220000Z
DTEND:20090817T000000Z
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