This Labor Day weekend, take some time to learn about some of the unusual professions people around the world have developed to provide for themselves and their loved ones.
In India, women become surrogate mothers, essentially renting their wombs to carry someone else's child. In the UK, Harry Potter enthusiasts have built an industry around the fictional young wizard. In rural Africa, doctors lay their own lives on the line to provide care for needy victims of war and poverty. In New York City, one man is responsible for tuning all the Steinway pianos that are used by the world's leading classical pianists.
People with unusual professions lead fasinating lives. Their days are filled with challenges. Sometimes they are triumphant, often they are plagues by frustration and loss. But, whether urged on by necessity or prompted by love of their work process, they press on. They succeed because they dare.
Here's my list of documentaries for watching on Labor Day.

•A Man Named Pearl

Pearl Fryar's unusual profession is that of topiary gardener. He is self taught, and through his love of creatling elaborately designed gardens, he has tranformed the physical look and social outlook of rural Bishopville, bringing tourist income to his adopted hometown in impoverished Lee County, South Carolina. His story story is entertaining and inspiring, and the gardens are magnificent.More »

•Dumbstruck

Five ventriloquists at various stages in their careers, and the dummies they use in their acts, are the lead characters in Mark Goffman's Dumbstruck. And, they are, in fact, not at all dumstruck. The ventriloquists are actually quite articulate about their art, explaining how they develop the personas of their dummies, hone their skills and elevate their professional standing. What's behind their choice of this unusual profession? No spoilers. See the film.More »

•Living in Emergency

This documentary pays tribute to the dedicated doctors, nurses and support personnel who work for Medicines Sans Frontieres, the international NGO that provides health care in third world countries where medical treatment would be otherwise unavailable. They're labors are heroic. The film, subtitled 'Stories of Doctors Without Borders,' film follows several doctors as they save lives -- and sometimes cannot -- while coping with adverse and often dangerous conditions created by extreme poverty and political instability, including situations of civil war and genocide.More »

•Pianomania

For Stephan Knüpfer, the sound of a well-tuned piano isn't defined only by sharps and flats. Knüpfer listens for tone, for warmth and richness of sound. He's never satisfied until the pianos he tunes are perfectly prepared for the masterful hands of his clients at Steinway Pianos. They are the world's finest pianos, and his clients are the world's greatest concert paniests. And, yes, the film does have music in it!More »

•Sweetgrass

Sweetgrass follows Montana sheep herders as they drive 3,000 sheep through the Beartooth Mountains of Montana during the summer of 2003. This journey was the professional end of the trail for the herders, the last sheep drive through dangerous terrain that has been traversed by their forebears since the early 1900s. The documentary is cinema verite in its purest form. There is no use of voice over narration to tell the story, no graphics are used during the film to establish location or explain images. Sweetgrass is an exquisite example of what the directors call 'visual antropology.'Buy from Amazon »

•Strong

Cheryl Haworth has been a champion weightlifter, outlifting all her peers, since she was a young girl. Now, she's a teenager and is approaching the end of her weightlifting career. She's a musclebound young woman who doesn't quite fit into the prom set, and she's trying to find her way to another profession she can love as much as she's loved her life in competitive sports. But, will she win Olympic gold before moving on?No spoilers. See the film.More »

•We Are Wizards

Ardent Harry Potter fans turn their passion for the young wizard into viable professions for themselves. Their labors range from making music to creating Potter-related art works and other merchandise. The documentary introduces the full range of Potter professionals who wouldn't dream of doing anything else for their careers.More »

•Unmistaken Child

When Geshe Lama Konghog, a revered rinpoche, died in 2001, the Buddhist hierarchy initiated a search to find his embodiment in a newborn child, according to a centuries-old tradition and precise practices that involve reading signs revealed in the cremation of the deceased and the interpretations of astrologers. Following the signs and interpretations, Tenzin Zopa, a 28 year old Nepalese monk who’d been Geshe Lama Konghog's disciple for 21 years, was dispatched to an isolated area of Nepal to find the 'unmistaken child' who was seen as the reincarnation of the spiritual leader. From the standpoint of Western culture, both the monk and the child rinpoche have unusual professions and a unique professional relationship.More »

•Smash His Camera

Ron Galella is the celebrity photographer famous for stalking his subjects and supplying the tabloids with their hottest shots of famous people who made it clear that they wanted their privacy. During the course of his long career, Galella was slugged by Marlon Brando, sued by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and often slurred by other photographers. But he kept shooting, and shooting, and shooting. And, as we see in 'Smash His Camera,' Galella loved his work and wound up with an archive of millions of photos that document New York celebrity life for decades past. But is getting slugged and sued really worth it? See the documentary.More »

•Made In India

Labor has another meaning in India, where impoverished women are hired to serve as surrogate mothers -- or baby incubators -- for infertile couples who want to have a child of their own but, for one reason or another, cannot do so without the surrogacy. As shocking as it may seem, the practice is legal and some women serve as surrogates several times, earning enough money to support their families for years. Is this profession highly regarded and legit, or is it exploitive of poor and uneducated woman? A fascinating study of a very different women's profession.More »