Films at the Whitney: Work/Place

Free admission. No registration required.

This program of six short films depicts the evolution of the labor film across genres and eras—from early works by D.W. Griffith and Allan Dwan that shaped Hollywood melodrama and the American Western, to the painterly, neorealist, and documentary landscapes of Vittorio De Seta, José Luis Torres Leiva, and Rose Lowder. Spanning Sicilian wheat fields, Breton salt marshes, and industrial factories, these films highlight the rhythms of the second shift, the capitalist marketplace, and the convergence of ancient and modern farming techniques. Together, they invite viewers to reflect on the relationship between work and rest, on- and off-screen.

WORKERS LEAVING THE LUMIÈRE FACTORY (LA SORTIE DE L’USINE LUMIÈRE À LYON)
1895 | Directed by Louis Lumière| France| 1 minute | Silent

GOLDEN PARABLE (PARABOLA D’ORO)
1955 | Directed by Vittorio De Seta | Italy | 11 minutes | Italian with English subtitles

A CORNER IN WHEAT
1909 | Directed by D. W. Griffith | United States | 14 minutes | Silent with English intertitles

MAIDEN AND MEN
1912 | Directed by Allan Dwan| United States | 14 minutes | Silent with English intertitles

WOMEN WORKERS LEAVING THE FACTORY (OBRERAS SALIENDO DE LA FÁBRICA)
2005 | Directed by José Luis Torres Leiva | Chile | 21 minutes

SEA SALT FLOWER (FLEUR DE SEL)
2010 | Directed by Rose Lowder| France| 32 minutes

Work/Place traces the cinematic relationship between labor and its environments, from salt mines and city streets to harbors and factories. With features and shorts from thirteen countries, including France, China, Mali, the United States, and Mexico, this five-night series depicts what the place of work has been—and could be—in the lives of people around the globe.    

Series curated by Annie Berman and Nathaniel LaCelle-Peterson