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Director
Joe Lee
Credits
Producer: Fergus Dowd
Category
Documentary
Joe Lee (Fortune’s Wheel) focuses on the plight of the 1,000 Irish Debenhams workers who were made redundant in April 2020 when Debenhams UK Retail Ltd. shut all 11 Irish stores including their flagship store on Dublin's Henry Street. The 95% female workforce had been denied an earlier agreed redundancy package and so voted to go on official strike. The workers remained on the picket lines, throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, for 406 days, making this the longest industrial dispute in Irish labour history. It finally ended in May 2021 with a compromise and a government-sponsored proposal based around a retraining fund. Made with the support of the Debenhams Shop Stewards Group and Fergus Dowd (author of Tales From The Debenhams Picket Line), the film reveals the courage, determination, and friendship that lay behind the lengthy conflict. Notes by Sunniva O'Flynn
90 minutes, Ireland, 2023, Colour
ARCHIVE AT LUNCHTIME: MCGAHERN: SHORT STORIES (DOUBLE BILL) 13.20
BLACKBIRD BLACKBIRD BLACKBERRY 11:00, 20:10
IFI & GAZE: UNMASCED: BEYOND THE AGGRESSIVES: 25 YEARS LATER 20.30
IFI & GAZE: UNMASCED: BUTCHES AND BOYS 18.15
IFI & GAZE: UNMASCED: OUTITUDE 13.30
IFI & GAZE: UNMASCED: SCANNÁIN SAPPHIC (IRISH LESBIAN SHORTS) 15.30
KIDNAPPED 14:30
LOVE LIES BLEEDING 16:10, 20:50
PERFECT DAYS 17:20
THAT THEY MAY FACE THE RISING SUN 11.30, 13.50, 18.30
THE TEACHERS’ LOUNGE 11.20
The IFI is supported by The Arts Council