Paul Laverty
Description
Ricky and his wife Abby, who lost their home in the 2008 financial crash, are desperate to get out of their economic distress. When Ricky gets the opportunity to be his own boss as a delivery driver, they trade in their only asset, Abby's car, for a new white van and the dream that Ricky can work his way up to owning his own franchise. But the couple find their lives are quickly pushed further to the edge by an unrelenting work schedule, a ruthless...
Description
Maya is an undocumented worker who has crossed the U.S. border from Mexico to search for her sister Rosa, and to begin a new life. After being reunited, Rosa gets Maya a job with a janitorial service in a large office building. While working, Maya happens upon Sam Shapiro, a muckraking lawyer and union agitator whom the service-workers' union has assigned to bring its "justice for janitors" campaign to the building. Appalled at the work conditions...
Description
Escaping a prison sentence by the skin of his teeth, the wayward and disillusioned Robbie is given one last chance to turn his life around. Together four friends discover that turning to drink might just change their lives--not cheap fortified wine, but the best malt whiskies in the world.
Description
Ireland, 1920. Damien O'Donovan is leaving for London for an internship, until the dreaded Black and Tans attack his hurling mates, killing one for not speaking English. Thus sidetracked by the Irish War for Independence, Damien is convinced by his brother Teddy to throw his lot in with the IRA. Damien is a purist, an idealist, and therefore marked for a tragic destiny, while Teddy is a fatefully pragmatic politician. These differences between the...
5) The Old Oak
Description
The Old Oak is the last pub standing in a once thriving mining village in northern England and a gathering space for a community that has fallen through hard times. There is growing anger, resentment, and a lack of hope among the residents, but the pub and its proprietor TJ are a fond presence to their customers. When a group of Syrian refugees move into the floundering village, a decisive rift fueled by prejudices develops between the community and...
Description
There's precious little sweetness in Liam's life in the weeks before his 16th birthday: his mother is in prison, and his stepfather Stan is a bullying small-time drug dealer. Liam wants a normal life with mom, his older sister and her baby boy, in a caravan he picked out himself. Naïve, driven Liam comes to the attention of a local crime lord, who offers him employment--but with conditions that are merciless. Liam is locked into a destiny that he...
Series
Criterion collection volume 906
Description
A carpenter recovering from a heart attack befriends a single mother and her two kids as together they battle the national health care and benefits system to receive Employment and Support Allowance.
Description
"Idealistic filmmaker Sebastian ... and his cynical producer Costa ... arrive in Bolivia to make a revisionist film about Christopher Columbus' conquest of the Americas. But as filming commences, the local citizens begin to riot in protest against a multi-national corporation that is taking control of their water supply. With the film shoot in jeopardy, both men find their convictions shaken. Inspired by the real-life water wars in Bolivia in the...
9) Jimmy's hall
Description
In 1921 Jimmy Gralton's sin was to build a dance hall on a rural crossroads in an Ireland on the brink of Civil War. The Pearse-Connolly Hall was a place where young people could come to learn, to argue, to dream; but above all to dance and have fun. As the hall grew in popularity its socialist and free-spirited reputation brought it to the attention of the church and politicians who forced Jimmy to flee and the hall to close.
10) Looking for Eric
Description
Eric Bishop, a British soccer fanatic who is down on his luck, gets a surprise visit from Eric Cantona, the legendary player for Manchester United. Cantona is there to lend a hand with raising his kids and showing him how to woo back his ex-wife. When the menace of crime threatens Bishop's home, Cantona's advice finally gets him to reach out to his friends that have always been ready to help via a con job that is quite effective.