Film
From the group’s beginnings in the late 1970s, the Waterfront Writers and Artists experimented with film as a way to document and interpret life on the docks. Early on, group members Brian Nelson, Frank Silva, and Michael Vawter created a double-carousel slideshow entitled Longshoremen at Work; the version below is a 1994 VHS transfer of that original production. The group’s other moving-image works were shot on Super 8 by Brian Nelson, extending the WWA’s efforts to record longshore workers’ experiences during a period of rapid change on the waterfront.(Please note that these video files are large and may take time to load.)
Title: Longshoremen at Work
Authors: Brian Nelson, Frank Silva, Michael Vawter
Duration: 17 minutes 22 seconds
First produced in 1979 as a dual-carriage slideshow projection, “Longshoremen at Work” was shown at poetry readings presented by the Waterfront Writers and Artists through the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1994 it was transferred to video, and in 2014 a digital copy was uploaded to the Internet Archive. The film spans 25 years of International Longshore and Warehouse Union history in San Francisco and Oakland, from 1969 to 1994.
Title: Sunrise with Coffee, 1973
Author: Brian Nelson
Duration: 7 minutes 28 seconds
Title: Unloading Coffee at Pier 27, San Francisco
Author: Brian Nelson with initial narration from Eric Nelson
Duration: 13 minutes 13 seconds
Title: Filming in the Hold with Gang 23, 1979
Author: Brian Nelson
Duration: 12 minutes 2 seconds
Title: Inbound to Pier 23, San Franisco, 1974
Author: Brian Nelson
Duration: 7 minutes 16 seconds
Title: Containerization, 1973-1979
Author: Brian Nelson
Duration: 9 minutes 15 seconds
Title: Working General Cargo with Gang 23, 1974
Author: Brian Nelson
Duration: 2 minutes 14 seconds
Title: Loading General Cargo (and some containers) at Piers 80 and 19, San Francisco, 1973
Author: Brian Nelson
Duration: 5 minutes 33 seconds
Title: Schnitzer Scrap Steel Terminal, Oakland, 1979
Author: Brian Nelson
Duration: 6 minutes 30 seconds
Title: One Minute
Author: Brian Nelson
Duration: 1 minutes 3 seconds
Title: Timelapse of the MV Vishva Tirth at Pier 19, San Franicsco, 1973
Author: Brian Nelson
Duration: 2 minutes 45 seconds