2023-10-08 05:17:39
After the popular success of “We, peasants” (5.5 million viewers), Fabien Béziat and Hugues Nancy create a new historical fresco on the women and men who shaped the industrial power and social achievements of our country and whose the fighting still resonates today. “We, the workers” will be extended by a Documentary Night dedicated to work. Tuesday October 10 from 9:10 p.m. on France 2.
It is the story of women and men who, with the strength of their arms, shaped the industrial power of France for more than a century. For a long time, there were children among them – up to 20% of the country’s workers -, sometimes put to work from the age of 5, then, following the law of 1898, from the age of 13, once they had obtained the certificate of studies. Regularly, in successive waves, immigrants – colonial, Italian, Polish, Algerian, etc. – were called upon to swell the cohorts of black faces or the ranks of steel soldiers, to keep the arms factories running, manufacturing boats or automobiles, building the country’s infrastructure, manufacturing everyday objects. Becoming aware of themselves and their strength, they organized themselves to defend their rights to free time, to education, to culture; many joined the CGT, the SFIO, all fought to invent the social standards of our country: weekly rest, working hours, retirement, housing…
Thanks to exceptional archives and numerous testimonies, Fabien Béziat and Hugues Nancy retrace the true epic of French workers. This large fresco spans a century and a half of history to pay tribute to these women and men too often absent from our memories and now almost invisible, while nearly a quarter of French people are still workers.
Today, they are the ones who speak in this collective film written in their name. Workers of yesterday and today, coming from all over the country and from all trades, they tell us regarding this industrial adventure of which they will forever remain the heroes. This story is of course ours, that of a society that entered modernity at the pace of the working world, with its struggles, its crises, its tragedies and its hopes.
“Our ambition remains the same throughout our achievements: to tell a popular history of France thanks to a mesh between vibrant testimonies and powerful archive images which project us into unique worlds, with their codes, their rites and their culture.
For this new project, we wanted to dare a collective narrative, in the name of the workers, with a “we” encompassing all the generations of those who have succeeded one another in the factories since the second half of the 19th century. A story to testify how, by an astonishing pendulum swing, we went from exploited individuals in the 19th century to a community of destiny that became politically and socially central in the middle of the 20th century, at the moment of its apogee, until the long and painful dissolution of the working world.
Paying tribute to the workers was then reminding – and therefore showing in the image – that there are still many workers in our country: more than five million. Their gestures and their know-how have stood the test of time and still exist in textiles, in porcelain working, the automobile industry, canneries, metallurgy… We, the workers shows women and men at work today while giving voice to several generations of these anonymous builders, often silent, sometimes invisible, who nevertheless shaped France as we know it. »
Fabien Béziat and Hugues Nancy, directors
“We, the workers”
© Programm33
Speakers
Abdellah SamateCharbonnages de France, Pecquencourt (59)
Kind PatinCharbonnages de France, Arenberg Wallers (59)
Are you amazing?Renault plant on Seguin Island, Boulogne-Billancourt (92)
Christian CorougePeugeot factory, Sochaux (25)
Christine BoucauLa Lainière spinning mill, Roubaix (59)
Denise Bailly-Michelsdaughter of Charles Michels (75)
Miners’ HarmonyOignies (61)
Henri TraforettiRhodiaceta factory, Besançon (25)
Jacqueline SansonSKF factory, Ivry-sur-Seine (94)
Jean LepczynskiCharbonnages de France, Arenberg Wallers (59)
Jean-Michel FrixonMichelin factory, Clermont-Ferrand (63)
Jean-Paul MassinaProvidence, Cockerill Réhon (54)
Liliane LesaffreBernard Weaving, Haubourdin (59)
Martine GesellePaul and Joseph Leurent spinning mill, Tourcoing (59)
Michel OlmiUsinor, Senelle Longwy (54)
Pierre CornardChalk Weaving, Roubaix (59)
Halil GökTourcoing (59)
Christophe FissotPorcelain from the Factory, Saint-Brice-sur-Vienne (87)
David GistauSAM foundry, Decazeville (12)
Sylvie Oosthuyse et Ophély HosteCombing Dumortier, Tourcoing (59)
Maria BravoCombing Dumortier, Tourcoing (59)
Alexis FissotPorcelain from the Factory, Saint-Brice-sur-Vienne (87)
Flavie LogeaiPorcelain from the Factory, Saint-Brice-sur-Vienne (87)
Pascale GloaguenChancerelle, Douarnenez (29)
Nicole LesageChancerelle, Douarnenez (29)
Benoit DefreyneRenault factory, Maubeuge (59)
Sandy CourregesGuynemer technical high school, Oloron-Sainte-Marie (64)
TitouanGuynemer technical high school, Oloron-Sainte-Marie (64)
Sophie CornetMichelin factory, Roanne (42)
Sylvie MartinMichelin factory, Roanne (42)
Véronique RicardSAM foundry, Decazeville (12)
Ghislaine GistauSAM foundry, Decazeville (12)
Jean-Claude N’GoueteBolloré Logistics, Roissy-en-France (95)
Bilal KloulBolloré Logistics, Roissy-en-France (95)
“We, the workers”
DR
21.10: We, the workers
Documentary (2023 – unpublished) – Duration 90 min – A movie of Fabien Béziat & Hugues Nancy – With the voice ofAnthony Bajon – Production Program33 – With the participation of France Televisions
To see and rewatch on france.tv
“The Sparkling”
© Program33
The night of the documentary
To extend this evening and this theme, France 2 offers you five other documentaries – including two new – devoted to the working world.
10:50 p.m.: Les Étincelants (“Infrared”)
In a France moving towards its reindustrialization, the professional training of young people is a national issue. Long considered a byway, technical sectors are struggling to recruit people. To remedy this, a school with an atypical pedagogy is trying a unique experiment: linking the learning of a working profession to life in the community. Nora, Martin, Noah and the others take their CAP in boilermaking at the end of the year. Supervised by a team of enthusiasts, the school’s rules are strict. Boarding school is compulsory and the military rhythm. No delays are tolerated, no deviations allowed. Cell phones are prohibited except during free time, from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. As the exam approaches, wounds from the past and the vicissitudes of adolescence arise, sometimes disturbing this fragile momentum.
Unpublished • Realization Ilan Teboul • Production Program33 • With the participation of France Televisions
23.45 The Golden Thread (« 25 nuances de doc »)
Near Calcutta, old factories still work with jute, with machines more than a century old that run on the sweat of their many workers. These factories are the heart of vibrant communities, where demands and hopes are always strong. In a world where modern methods are far away, The Golden Thread offers an immersive look at another form of industry.
Unpublished • 86 min • Production Nishta Jain • Production Taskovski Films
And also…
Quai des Brunes, women dockers from Reunion Island
52 min • Production Claire Perdrix • Production The good days
A hard time
52 min • Production Anne Gintzburger • Production Star Hunter
The Battle of Steel
89 min • Production Eric Gueret • Production Good pick
Also note: from October 10, a collection of documentaries, “Light on work! “, will be available on the france.tv platform. Portraits, new perspectives on well-known or more confidential professions – such as physio, aviator with the Patrouille de France or audio-naturalist…
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