The amazing and epic story of how the Paris Opera House, the Palais Garnier, was built from 1852 to 1870, thanks to the decisive impulse of the French Emperor Napoleon III; a story that is also that of the birth of a golden age for orchestral music, opera and ballet; of the rise of the urban bourgeoisie turned social elite; and of a certain mysterious inhabitant of the darkest corners of a legendary place.
After his parents' death, construction worker Sigi doesn't know what to do with his life. He can't do much with his pay, and as a working-class man, women aren't interested in him. But things start to change after a colleague advises him to start moonlighting as a private builder and he meets the beautiful Hannah.
A middle-aged Tehranian man, Mr. Badii is intent on killing himself and seeks someone to bury him after his demise. Driving around the city, the seemingly well-to-do Badii meets with numerous people, including a Muslim student, asking them to take on the job, but initially he has little luck. Eventually, Badii finds a man who is up for the task because he needs the money, but his new associate soon tries to talk him out of committing suicide.
A workman finds a singing frog in the cornerstone of an old building being demolished. But when he tries to cash in on his discovery, he finds the frog will sing only for him, and just croak for the talent agent and the audience in the theater he's spent his life savings on.
Behind the scenes of a large construction site in western Switzerland, we dive into the world of construction where most of the workers are foreigners.
On a building site in present-day Tehran, Lateef, a 17-year-old Turkish worker is irresistibly drawn to Rahmat, a young Afghan worker. The revelation of Rahmat's secret changes both their lives.
Julio, a young fisherman from a provincial village, descends into social alienation as he arrives in Manila to search for his loved one.
Igor, aged 15, and his father Roger deal in housing and peddling illicit labor in the outlying districts of Liege, Belgium. Scams, lies and swindling rule their lives. When one of his father’s illegal workers gets injured on the job and asks Igor to promise to take care of his wife and baby, Igor finds himself at a crossroad. He wants to keep the promise, but the price would be to betray his father.
Nesting is a story about Veikka (20), who is about to leave his work place - a construction site owned by Kari (50) - to start a new life in the big city. Veikka thinks the goodbyes will go smoothly, but gets interrupted by a rare situation: there’s a baby in the crane. The surprising problem is an annoyance at first, but in the end it opens up communication between the employees in a way that has been difficult in the past.
Two middle-aged men work as caretakers on an isolated dam construction site high in the snow-capped Italian Alps. When one of them leaves for the valley to spend Christmas vacation with his family he is temporarily replaced with an adolescent boy. The other man is both annoyed and intrigued by the boy and his habits: he listens to loud music, sleeps too long in the mornings and doesn't drink any alcohol. They barely speak to one another in the first couple of days. But when an avalanche cuts their small hut from electricity they slowly start growing more fond of each other.
A construction worker destroys Bugs' home with a steam shovel and refuses to repair the damage.
Ivan Locke has worked hard to craft a good life for himself. Tonight, that life will collapse around him. On the eve of the biggest challenge of his career, Ivan receives a phone call that sets in motion a series of events that will unravel his family, job, and soul.
Man leaves his factory job and sells everything to buy an earth mover and start his own business, travelling from place to place with his wife and child. There is not enough work and he is eventually forced to emigrate after many hardships.
Upper-class female reporter is (despite herself) attracted to hulking laborer digging a tunnel under the Hudson river.
Farmers and their families, engineers, technicians, criminals and prostitutes were acquired on the construction of industrial facilities in Zenica. Siba tries to help them, working with dedication and love that goes beyond his duty. It is difficult to satisfy everyone and achieve more in this scorching city and Siba makes mistakes, carried by desire to achieve the impossible. With great effort, the builders manage to overcome the maelstrom after the dam burst, and while the first iron runs from the new furnace, Siba, dismissed because of errors committed, leaves a boom town of Zenica.
Claudio is a construction worker living in the outskirts of Rome. He's happily married and his wife is pregnant with their third child. However, a dramatic event comes to upset this simple and happy life.
Donald is a riveter who has trouble with the riveting gun, heights, and the foreman, Pete. Pete chases him throughout the construction site, causing the building to collapse. Donald runs away while Pete is trapped in cement, holding a water hose in the pose of a statue.
A subtenant couple that tries unsuccessfully to have a baby and get the apartment decides to adopt one.
A homeless cat (Claude Cat) searching for food is harassed by the playful antics and barking of an energetic pup (Frisky Puppy). Frisky repeatedly sneaks up behind the poor tabby cat (who hates the dog) and scares it into jumping vertically when it barks. After Claude finally silences the pup, he encounters a larger dog, whose bark has a disastrous effect. Tweety Bird has two lines. Can you guess what they are?