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Labor in a Single Shot
Role: Director / Cinematographer / Editor
Labour in a Single Shot aims to respond to and grapple with the specific characteristics of each of the project's 15 workshop cities and regions. In each city we see all kinds of labour going on every day: cobblers, cooks, waiters, window cleaners, nurses, tattoo-artists or garbage workers. But most of the work activities happen behind closed doors. Often labour is not only invisible but also unimaginable. Therefore it is vital to undertake research, to open one’s eyes and to set oneself into motion.
Where can we see which kinds of labor? What is hidden?
What happens in the centre of a city, what occurs at the periphery?
What is characteristic and what is unusual with regard to each city?
What kinds of labour processes set interesting cinematographic challenges?
Labour in a Single Shot aims to respond to and grapple with the specific characteristics of each of the project's 15 workshop cities and regions. In each city we see all kinds of labour going on every day: cobblers, cooks, waiters, window cleaners, nurses, tattoo-artists or garbage workers. But most of the work activities happen behind closed doors. Often labour is not only invisible but also unimaginable. Therefore it is vital to undertake research, to open one’s eyes and to set oneself into motion.
Where can we see which kinds of labor? What is hidden?
What happens in the centre of a city, what occurs at the periphery?
What is characteristic and what is unusual with regard to each city?
What kinds of labour processes set interesting cinematographic challenges?
This project began from a privileged workshop opportunity I got into while I was enrolled in the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. I was given a prompt: document labor in a minute in a single shot. It gave me a lot of freedom to explore the neighborhood of Chicago and allowed me to learn how to feel what was being shot on the camera. I asked around a lot of different immigrant businesses a permission to film, and if I got lucky, I was able to film them working. It was a conversation between the worker and me. At the time, I didn’t understand why I was choosing these certain places and certain people over the others. But over time, I got to understand that this is the kind of place I feel the most at home.
Screened at Maclean center with the public Q&A
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