Austin Film Festival 2010

Based on a true story, Made in Dagenham, portrays a decisive moment in a decade of upheaval, when the fight for equal rights and pay was led – unexpectedly – by ordinary working class women. The fight is lead by Rita O’Grady (played by Sally Hawkins of AFF 08 selection Happy Go-Lucky), a young married mother, one of 187 women who work for the Ford Motor Company. Unlike their male counterparts in the gleaming new facility, the women toil in old 1920s plant with a leaky roof and stifling sweatshop conditions in summer. Despite their highly specialized work sewing car seat upholstery, the women are classified as “unskilled” labor and paid a fraction of the men’s pay. Daring to stand up and push boundaries, the women all change the rules of the game not on for their factory, but also for the rights and expectations of women everywhere.

Two of Hollywood’s hottest TV stars learn the true meaning of “caliente.” One minute, they’re honored guests on a NASA sponsored mission as research for an upcoming roll; the next they’re stranded on an unforgiving alien planet brimming with unspeakable danger, the lone survivors of a fatal rocket crash. Now, they must adapt and use every ounce of their intelligence and ingenuity if they want to make it back to earth alive. Playing the two stranded idiots, Manley and Brennan play off of each other like a comedy team that has been performing together for years.