OCCUPATION:
A dynamic story of how students and immigrant janitors took on—and defeated—one of the most powerful corporations in the world, Occupation documents the historic three-week sit-in by the Harvard Living Wage Campaign. The Campaign won unprecedented gains for low-wage workers at the world’s richest university, and catapulted the living wage movement to the center of public attention. In demonstrating one local response to corporate power in an age of
globalization, Occupation powerfully depicts how people from dramatically different backgrounds were able to raise their hands together in victory. It is narrated by Ben Affleck.
BASTARDS:
Bastards of Utopia — Three Croatian activists struggle to change the
world. As children, they lived through the violent collapse of
Yugoslavia. But now, amid the aftershocks of socialism's failure, they
fight in their own way for a new leftism. The activists, whether
clashing with police or squatting in an old factory, risk everything
to live their politics. But as the setbacks mount, will they give up
the fight?
The film, shot during years of fieldwork with a Croatian anarchist
collective, applies EnMasseFilm's unique blend of observation, direct
participation and critical reflection to this misunderstood political
movement. Its portrayal of activism is both empathetic and
unflinching—an engaged, elegant meditation on the struggle to
re-imagine leftist politics and the power of a country's youth.
Maple Razsa
Maple Razsa is an anthropologist, activist and documentary filmmaker. He is committed to using text, images and sound to embody the experience and political imagination of contemporary social movements. Maple’s work from Croatia, Mozambique, and the US has shown in such fora as the George Eastman House, The Harvard Film Archive, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and festivals from Taipei to Turin. As Assistant Professor of International Studies and Associate Director of the Oak Institute for the Study of International Human Rights, Razsa teaches on social movements, human rights, political documentary, and postsocialism at Colby College, Maine, USA.
Pacho Velez
Pacho Velez is a theater director and documentary filmmaker. He is interested in personal stories that help to illuminate greater political issues. He is proud to have worked for the Service Employees International Union, for whom he co-directed a documentary about service workers at Harvard. His films have screened at Silverdocs, the RIFF, and the Telluride Indiefest. He won the Best Documentary prize at the Ivy Film Festival in 2003 and 2004, as well as a Prize for Humanitarian Filmmaking from the New England Film Festival. In 2006, the US Department of Education awarded him a Javits Fellowship. In the fall of 2010, he begins teaching filmmaking at Harvard University.
EnMasse Films is a documentary film partnership between Maple Razsa and Pacho Velez. EMF produces films committed to both ethnographic method and political engagement.
