Search Film, Company, People...

BREAKER BOYS

By Ramune KUDZMANAITĖ

Documentary - Completed 2025

This is a film about the children of emigrants, who not only created their own separate
"worlds" in a foreign country but also contributed to the development of American industry, economy, and culture.

- Year of production
- 2025
- Genres
- Documentary, Female director, True Story
- Countries
- USA
- Languages
- ENGLISH
- Budget
- 0.3 - 0.6 M$
- Duration
- 120 mn
- Director(s)
- Ramune KUDZMANAITĖ
- Producer(s)
- Lesley MATALI (Didza Productions)
- Synopsis
- Children of the first wave of Lithuanian emigration at the end of the 19th century and
  the beginning of the 20th century who initially entered the coal mines of Pennsylvania and worked there
  with their parents under slave conditions. These children, called "Breaker boys" inspired and encouraged
  their parents to protest against inhumane working conditions. The 1897 Latimer Strike, which turned into a
  massacre, brought the eight-hour day and state police to America. Growing up, the boys created an
  "autonomous" Lithuania in Pennsylvania with its parliaments, press, churches, schools, and orchestras,
  supporting the 1918 Restoration of the State of Lithuania. One of the most famed "Breaker boys" was
  Lithuanian Karolis Bučinskis who became Hollywood's biggest star, Charles Bronson.