Unemployment: voices from the line

Canada, 1980

Film
Please note

Sorry, we don't have images or video for this item.

A film about the effects of unemployment on the lives of individuals and their families. It exposes the harsh realities of unemployment and graphically depicts situations that contradict the notion that unemployment insurance takes care of the problems. The film illustrates that most unemployed persons prefer to work and that the real cost of unemployment is human suffering. Unemployment: Voices from the Line is a powerful and disturbing account of a national tragedy that, until now, has been viewed solely in economic terms.

Content notification

Our collection comprises over 40,000 moving image works, acquired and catalogued between the 1940s and early 2000s. As a result, some items may reflect outdated, offensive and possibly harmful views and opinions. ACMI is working to identify and redress such usages.

Learn more about our collection and our collection policy here. If you come across harmful content on our website that you would like to report, let us know.

How to watch

This work has not been digitised and is currently unavailable to view online. It may be possible for approved reseachers to view onsite at ACMI.

Learn more about accessing our collection

Collection

In ACMI's collection

Credits

director

Pierre Lasry

co-producer

Mark Zannis

Peter Katadotis

production company

ONF | NFB

Duration

00:53:10:00

Production places
Canada
Production dates
1980

Collection metadata

ACMI Identifier

316292

Language

English

Sound/audio

Sound

Colour

Colour

Holdings

16mm film; Access Print (Section 1)

Please note: this archive is an ongoing body of work. Sometimes the credit information (director, year etc) isn’t available so these fields may be left blank; we are progressively filling these in with further research.

Cite this work on Wikipedia

If you would like to cite this item, please use the following template: {{cite web |url=https://acmi.net.au/works/92950--unemployment-voices-from-the-line/ |title=Unemployment: voices from the line |author=Australian Centre for the Moving Image |access-date=13 June 2025 |publisher=Australian Centre for the Moving Image}}