Few languages today cross boundaries like cinema and TV series. In the movie theaters or in streaming, some works tell us a thousand times better than any textbook how the labor market is changing. So here are ten suggestions, including films and TV series, to understand success stories, trades of the future and key figures in the new global economy.
1. The Startup Kids. A documentary, released in 2012, on the golden boy of American and European digital entrepreneurship. Interviews and stories discover how some of the most successful activities of the recent years were started: Vimeo, Dropbox, Soundcloud and much more.
2. Something Ventured. Released in 2011, this documentary follows and explains how Venture Capital works, retracing the origins of the phenomenon. To do so, it offers the voices of some of the best-known venture capitalists in the US, such as Don Valentine and Arthur Rock.
3. E-dreams. Home deliveries before the boom of the recent years. The film is, admittedly, a little dated – released in 2002 – but relevant more than ever, as it tells of the rise and fall of Kozmo.com, a Chinese retail service for various goods delivered by bikers. After an incredible success, which attracted loans worth 250 million dollars, Kozmo was forced to close in just three years.
4. Crocodile in The Yangtze. If you’re looking for a window to look into Alibaba, the Chinese electronics and computer giant, there is nothing better than this film, which tells the story of founder Jack Ma and also frames the new Chinese capitalism.
5. Silicon Valley. The title says a lot: this series, launched in 2014 and still in production, tells the life of a group of programmers working in an incubator in the most famous startup area of America. More than a documentary, in this case, a comedy, which manages to describe, in the background, that segment of the world of business.
Print the Legend tells of the world of 3D printers, Crocodile in the Yangtze explains the rise of Alibaba and the new Chinese capitalism
6. Nova: Search for The Super Battery. It is a well-known fact that we depend more and more on batteries and their chargers. This is why research into the best technologies to improve battery life and resistance (applied in very different contexts) is fundamental, as this documentary explains.
7. Il lavoro che vogliamo. Among many entrepreneurial stories, this is part documentary, part fiction focusing on ordinary people that are seeking employment or have created their own. Directed by Andrea Salvadore, this work is a cross-section of Italian society as it tries to emerge from the crisis.
8. Banking on Bitcoin. Released just over a year ago, this documentary tells the world of bitcoins and the technology on which it is based, through data and interviews with experts and professionals. Perfect for understanding a world that you often hear about, but which requires a specific glossary to be part of it.
9. Print The Legend. Another area of interest to understand the world of work of the future is 3D printers. This 2014 documentary is perfect both to understand what we are talking about and to get to know the industry leaders.
10. Catching the Sun. What is the impact of the solar energy industry in the global economy and in the American labor market? This 2015 film tells us about it, something very useful at a time when the popularity of the green economy is growing
