Croatian filmmaker Srđan Kovačević’s The Thing to be Done follows three advocates – Goran Zrnić, Goran Lukić and Laura Orel – in the Workers’ Rights Office (Delavska svetovalnica in Slovene) in Ljubljana, who primarily advise and legally aid economic migrants who are working in Slovenia, many of whom are working without documentation or contracts, and are being taken advantage of by employers. The Thing to be Done had its world premiere in the International Competition of DOK Leipzig (see the news) and collected the Prize of the Interreligious Jury, with said jury lauding its “poignant and timely portrait of migrant workers in Slovenia” and its reminder that “dignity is the cornerstone of human rights”.

(L'article continue plus bas - Inf. publicitaire)

Coming from a cinematography background, Kovačević, as both director and DoP, spends nearly the entire film tracking conversations between the advocates and the workers. Most of the latter are adult men of all ages who come from other parts of the Balkans, such as Bosnia, where average wages are dramatically lower than in Slovenia. Without a single connecting thread between the interactions involving advocates and clients, viewers are forced to confront the reality of exploitation while learning something new about the labour landscape in Slovenia, such as when we see a protest to ensure the rights of those working for the Port of Koper.

Kovačević is known for another labour-focused documentary, Factory to the Workers [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Srdjan Kovačević
fiche film], and he calls upon his intimate knowledge of labour advocacy circles to develop his newest film. Similar to the cinematographic and narrative style of Gianluca Matarrese’s GEN_ [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Gianluca Matarrese
fiche film], The Thing to be Done takes place almost entirely in the offices of these invisible heroes. Kovačević’s camera acts like another person in the room, moving between speakers and taking close but organic looks at paperwork, pay slips and contracts – the bureaucracy of our contemporary capitalist world. However, his fly-on-the-wall framing of conversations feels very intentional and matter-of-fact, never as if a part of the conversation has caught him off guard.

In its hands-off approach to critiquing the socioeconomic structures that underpin many of the exploitative systems in which we live, The Thing to Be Done emerges as an urgent call to action by revealing the cracks into which the marginalised fall. At times, its depiction of reality may feel dry or futile, yet the filmmaker’s insistence on integrating more experimental stylistic components emphasises the starkness of the office’s cause. Despite the hardships they face, the three advocates treat their clients with not only a strong firmness in their recommendations and affirmation of their rights, but also with kindness and humour, even in the most difficult of circumstances: a model, perhaps, for all those fighting for a more just future.

The Thing to be Done is a production by Croatia’s Fade IN, Serbia’s Theory at Work and Slovenia’s URGH!.