LET ME EXPLOIT YOU

Christmas tends to be a jolly time, fine. However CinemaAttic wants to balance the appetite for excess, binge shopping, joy de vivre and opulence that surrounds December with a pinch of self-reflection. So we propose a festive programme touching on sustainability, colonialism and some other lovely consequences of the fast-paced life we like to live.

The focus is mainly on the consequences of capitalism in different personal lives, putting emphasis on labor conditions, workers rights and playful ways to expose how inherent and embedded capitalism is in our bodies, with a subtle connection to wider issues of colonialism, progress and the idea of modernity.

We look in particular at workers rights and labor, and the experience of gig economy workers like riders, fruit-pickers or retail assistants in the Philippines, Spain, Brazil or the French Guiana. But we also take a bird’s eye view perspective on the wider consequences of our binge consuming malaise, resulting in a lovely combination of ultra capitalism and colonialism.

Bringing together animation, documentary, film essay and traditional fiction films, CinemaAttic proposes an alternative Christmas Film Night full of award winning gems that range from pure fun comedy to deeply artistic radical and critical films.

Content warnings: Depiction of nudity

SCREENINGS:

GLASGOW:
Where: CCA (350 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow)
When: Saturday 17 December, doors open at 19:30, screening starts at 20:00
Safety regulations apply

EDINBURGH:
Where: St Peter’s Episcopal Church Hall (14 Lutton Place, Edinburgh EH8 9PE)
When: Saturday 17 December, doors open at 19:30, screening starts at 20:00
Safety regulations apply

ONLINE:
Watch the programme from the comfort of your home by purchasing an online pass valid for a little over a week!

Where: via Festhome, from anywhere in the UK 
When: Films available to watch from Sunday 18 December 00:00 until Sunday 25 December 23:59

Short film information:

Happiness Is a Journey – Ivete Lucas 

On the night before Christmas, a warehouse of workers in Austin TX rush to process newspapers for delivery before driving out to trace the desolate streets delivering to their few and far between customers.

USA – Estonia | 2021 | 12 min | Documentary | Language: English

Closed Captions & Subtitles in: English

Loop – Pablo Polledri 

In this society each human being repeats the same action over and over again, in this society each human being repeats the same action over and over again, in this society each human being repeats the same action over and over again, in this society each human being repeats the same action over and over again.

Spain – Argentina | 2021 | 8 min | Animation | Language: No dialogue

Closed Captions & Subtitles in: No dialogue

Fantasma Neon (Neon Ghost) – Leonardo Martinelli 

A delivery man dreams of having a motorcycle. He was told everything would be like a musical film.

Brazil | 2021 | 20 min | Musical | Language: English

Closed Captions & Subtitles in: English

Chão de Fábrica (Lunch Break) – Nina Kopko 

It is 1979 in São Bernardo. On the eve of a strike at a local steel plant, four workers take a break in the restroom. Between bickering and displays of sisterhood, it is clear that each woman is hiding a secret.

Brazil | 2021 | 24 min | Language: Portuguese

Closed Captions & Subtitles in: English, French, German

Oro Rojo (Red Gold) – Carme Gomila 

Red Gold is based on the protest of Moroccan women who pick strawberries in Huelva and builds a polyphonic account that appeals to the structural dimension of the conflict: migration policies, the fight against north to south global extractivism, racial capitalism… helping us to reflect on the conflict’s complexity and its representation.

Spain | 2021 | 12 min. | Animation | Documentary | Language: Spanish

Closed Captions & Subtitles in: English

Excuse Me Miss, Miss, Miss – Sonny Calvento 

Vangie, a miserable contractual sales lady, is about to lose her job. But in her desperate attempt to convince her boss not to sack her, Vangie uncovers the ultimate jaw-dropping secret to regularization.

Philippines | 2019 | 16 min | Language: Filipino

Closed Captions & Subtitles in: English

Listen to the Beat of Our Images – Audrey Jean-Baptiste, Maxime Jean-Baptiste

The building of the Kourou Space Centre in French Guyana, seen through the eyes of the Guyanese population. An off-screen look at this space adventure.

France – Guyana | 2020 | 15 min | Documentary | Language: French

Closed Captions & Subtitles in: English