Manual labor is often noisy, physically demanding and time-consuming. However, it can also promote individual development – either in distinction from the laboring masses or in unity with them. The workplace can serve as a platform for friendships and solidarity out of which class consciousness can develop that can lead to political activism for social justice and improved working conditions: in short, work shapes people’s identities. The heroes and heroines of the films selected (plus one series) for the eighth edition of “Selects”, all of which depict different realities of workers’ lives, show this and much more.