Giovanna

This short is set in the early 1950s in a small textile factory in central Italy Prato Giovanna and her fellow female workers decide to enact a protest against the direction of the factorys dismissal plan by occupying the factory and continuing to work until the proprietor cancels the dismissals None of these women can really afford to lose their jobs as it is the only income in the family All workers receive moral and material support from their families apart from Giovanna who bravely endures her husbands disapproval Almost all the women hold out for thirtyfive days in spite of the proprietors attempts to break their resistance At first he blocks the road to the factory then he cuts off electric power to increase their isolation finally he tries to convince them to accept the dismissal of at least a smaller number of them But the women overcome these obstacles determined to resist