A Time to Rise / ਉਥਾਨ ਦਾ ਵੇਲਾ |
Uthan da Vela -
Co-produced with Jim Monro
(1981 | Color | 40 mins
On April 6, 1980, the Canadian Farmworkers Union came into existence. This film documents the conditions among Chinese and East Indian immigrant workers in British Columbia that provoked the formation of the union, and the response of growers and labor contractors to the threat of unionization. Made over a period of two years, the film is eloquent testimony to the progress of the workers’ movement from the first stirrings of militancy to the energetic canvassing of union members.
Production, Direction – Anand Patwardhan, Jim Monro
Camera – Martin Duckworth, Kirk Tougas
Sound – Nettie Wild
Editing – Anand Patwardhan
Reviews
A stirring documentary that left me fascinated by the dignity and passion with which farm labourers are facing down fear and violence to form a union…
Michelle Landsberg | Toronto Star
The film makes the farmworker’s union fight for recognition into a tough but exhilarating drama… the film never lapses into rhetoric but is carried along by well paced action.
Doug Ward | The Vancouver Sun
This forty minute documentary is among the rare militant Canadian made films in which the relationships between thre struggles of the farmworkers throughout North America are made explicit.
Luc Perreault | La Presse, Montreal