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Dreamwork China: The Workers of Foxconn

By Movies on a Big Screen (other events)

Sunday, February 19 2012 7:30 PM 9:00 PM PDT
 
ABOUT ABOUT
The Chinese short documentary film, "Deconstructing Foxconn" which features an interview with an employee who attempted suicide at Foxconn, will be shown prior to the feature documentary.

You may be familiar with Foxconn and its factories in China. They manufacture products for Apple, HP, Nintendo, Sony, Motorola, Dell, Nokia, Amazon (Kindle), Toshiba and many, many others. In fact, if you own any kind of electronic equipment, there's undoubtedly at least some small component or chip which was manufactured at Foxconn. We at MOBS tried to build a PC that was entirely "Foxconn-free" and found it impossible to do.

Foxconn has had a number of fatal and near-fatal accidents related to unsafe working conditions. Employees reportedly work excessively long hours, stand until their legs swell "until they can hardly walk" according to the NY Times, and live in extremely confined dorms. They're also known for having a number of employees who have committed suicide - to the point where Foxconn has installed nets at many of its factories. In January of this year, 150 employees at the Wuhan factory went to the roof and threatened mass suicide.

"Dreamwork China" was shot in Shenzhen, China, site of a massive Foxconn plant. It features interviews with employees of Foxconn in which the young workers talk about themselves, describing their lives, their hopes, their struggles for rights, and most of all, the dreams of a new generation in "the world's factory."