Product Details

• Directors: Haskell Wexler
• Producers: Tamara M. Maloney
• Format: NTSC
• Region: All Regions
• Studio: CustomFlix
• DVD Release Date: June 6, 2006
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000G1TQ8U
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #161,626 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Produced by The Institute for Cinema Studies
Written and Directed by Haskell Wexler
Producer: Tamara M. Maloney
Producer's Associate: Kinga Dobos
Editors: Lisa Leeman, Tamara Maloney
Music: Greg Landau

Ahhh... the glamorous life in Hollywood. Or is it? Film crews routinely work sweatshop hours, often clocking 15 to 18 hour days at the expense of their families, their health, their well-being, and even their lives.

In 1997, after a 19-hour day on the set, assistant cameraman Brent Hershman fell asleep behind the wheel, crashed his car, and died. Deeply disturbed by Hershman's preventable death, filmmaker and multiple-Oscar-winning cinematographer Haskell Wexler shows how sleep deprivation and long work hours are a lethal combination. WHO NEEDS SLEEP? is a commentary on our quality of life.

With ENGLISH and SPANISH SUBTITLES.


The Institute for Cinema Studies is a non-profit foundation dedicated to producing socially, politically and educationally relevant movies that deal with the important issues of our times.

For those wishing to purchase "Who Needs Sleep?" for use in educational institutions, libraries, group screenings or other non-profit organizations, please contact us at:

http://www.whoneedssleep.net or email:
[e-mail]

This product is manufactured on demand using DVD-R recordable media. Amazon.com's standard return policy will apply.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars SEVERELY required viewing - MANDATORY - for anyone in this industry, December 26, 2007

By 

Jim Conrad - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Who Needs Sleep? (DVD)

The 1997 death of Brent Hershman was the seminal event which inspired Oscar-winning cinematographer Haskell Wexler to undertake this documentary. Hershman's untimely demise was the result of contiguous sleepless days/nights on jobsite. Briefly, a cause celebre coalesced. Intent upon ending sweatshop hours in the film/television production industry, the movement lost steam after an auspicious beginning. With uncanny specificity, all this coincided with my own awakening to the urgent gravity of this issue within our industry. About the time Wexler was considering this documentary, I'd begun to broach the subject within the production community in Texas, and even drafted a very preliminary "compact," submitted to established professionals for feedback. Though response was overwhelmingly positive, various obligations eventually sidelined any extracurricular projects...but I never lost interest in this subject. Something--this documentary--finally emerged dealing in depth with this subject, and I CANNOT IMAGINE ANYONE IN THIS INDUSTRY GOING ANOTHER DAY WITHOUT SEEING IT.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars We All Need Sleep, October 6, 2007

By 

Victor E. Littlejohn (New York) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Who Needs Sleep? (DVD)

This film hits home, outstanding. Being a film technician I have experenced all these things first hand and a change is needs to be made and this is a start. I recommend this film all. Great work.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars American worker? Watch this, May 24, 2009

By 

Dutch "Joe Average" (Playa Del Rey, US, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Who Needs Sleep? (DVD)

This video is almost unheard of in mainstream media. Despite the crucial subject matter, this video hasn't been made widely available by the very studio system that it is critical of.
While Academy Award winning, Haskell Wexler exposes the cost in lives and lifestyles that the film and television industry takes on it's front line working crews, this important film points out a much broader problem affecting the American worker in general.
Europeans value time with family, time to travel and time to recover from illness. Americans have forgone those necessities and have been pushed by corporations into a paradigm of taking the most pride from unmatched productivity, for the gain of the company.
The title, "Who needs sleep" exemplifies Americas drive to "be the best", to be the most productive, and to outwork the competition. At a huge cost.
The film industry as a whole functions and maximizes profits by demanding a 13-14 hour work day and a 5-6 day production week. So, while crews are paid "overtime", they trade for it with their health, their families and their lives.
14 hours working leaves 10 hours a day to drive to and from work, eat, sleep, shower and shave. Oh, and fit in help with your kid's homework.

Know an Attorney, Doctor or Politician that wants to be succeed? He's putting in 60-70 hours a week, too. At minimum!
Know somebody supporting a family on minimum wage? They're working two, three or four jobs, totaling 60-80 hours a week just to scrape by on our shameful bottom wage scale.

The situation is endemic in America. We pay for "better" lives by trading in the things that make our lives best.
Who Needs Sleep?
We all do.
Buy this movie, Watch this movie, Share this movie.