15/04/2009

"In the 1970s films were made about the working class so it’s only natural that in this moment of our history films are being made about temp workers," said director Federico Rizzo of the recent success behind Paolo Virzì’s Tutta la Vita Davanti [+see also:
trailer
film profile], to Massimo Venier’s upcoming Generazione Mille Euro [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and his own Fuga dal Call Center [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (“Feeling from the Call Centre”).

Rizzo’s film is a docu-fiction on the life and emotional vicissitudes of Gianfranco (Angelo Pisani), a young temp catapulted into the world of call centres after graduating with honours in volcanology, and his girlfriend Marzia (Isabella Tabarini), forced to work for an erotic phone line to pay for her studies.

"A call centre is the symbolic prison of temping, and now the crisis offers a pretext for treating temps even worse," said Rizzo.

The independent project made for approximately €500,000 was produced by Cooperativa Gagarin (Fame Chimica) and Ardaco with support from local organisations, associations and unions, and is the eighth chapter in a "Decalogue on young victims" (the next will be entitled The Intern). The resourceful Rizzo shot the interviews over six months and the fictional parts in 3-4 weeks on a call centre set built in Milan.

"Many of the actors were actually found working in call centres, and they gave an intense and entertaining portrait of a generation," he added.

Distributed by Lo Scrittoio, Fuga dal Call Center is being released April 17 in Rome and Turin, and the following weekend in Milan, Bari and other cities.

(Translated from Italian)