Nightcleaners (1975), by the Berwick Street Film Collective, has long been recognized as a landmark of British experimental cinema. Alongside its companion film '36 to '77 (1978), it pioneered a form as radical as the Collective's politics. The Berwick Street Film Collective was formed in 1970 and produced feature documentaries until around 1980. Influenced in part by filmmakers such as Godard and Marker, its films dealt with some of the major political issues of the day.Nightcleaners and '36 to '77 chronicle one of the key campaigns of the women's movement in the 1970s: the campaign to unionize women night cleaners in London, which anticipated contemporary issues regarding precarious labor.
This two-volume boxset contains the two films on DVDs, plus two books featuring news sheets of the women's movement (one designed by Mary Kelly, a member of the Collective with whom an interview is also included), rare illustrations and contributions from the filmmakers.