Swiss filmmaker Frédéric Baillif's A Job Well Done, a drama about social workers caught between professional obligations and the needs of the people they support, has been selected for the Official Competition of the 30th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (6-22 November), where it will celebrate its world premiere (see the news).

Set in Geneva, the story follows a team of social workers who welcome migrants in need of assistance, shelter or simply someone willing to listen. As appointments, requests and individual cases pile up, the workers deal with a young woman in conflict with her family, an asylum seeker facing deportation, homeless people and a woman trying to escape violence. With available places scarce and institutional procedures unable to keep pace with urgent situations, the team is forced to confront an increasingly difficult question: should they remain within the rules in order to preserve the system of support or step outside the framework, rather than abandon someone in need?

For Salem, Hawa and Suzanne, their professional commitment gradually spills into their private lives. The stories of the people they support reopen personal wounds, while fatigue and disagreements begin to affect their relationships with one another. As some members of the team get prepared to break the law in order to help those they support, the film examines the point at which solidarity can become an offence.

Baillif developed the project through direct immersion in the field, spending time with professionals and people receiving support at AMIC, the association of intercultural mediators, and at the Roseraie centre in Geneva. Individual interviews and improvisation workshops provided the basis for the characters, situations and dialogue subsequently developed into the screenplay by Baillif and Joanne Giger. The film combines professional actors with non-professional performers who have experience of social work or migration, while directed improvisation allowed the performers to find their own words and reactions within a defined dramatic framework.

The main cast includes Sewit Abadi as Salem, Sabbel Ceesay as Hawa and Rebecca Baillif as Suzanne, alongside Margarita Sanchez, Nadim Ahmed, Selam Tesfu Michael, Claudia Grob, Jean-Daniel Bieler and Christian Bettex.

A Job Well Done continues Baillif's exploration of social work and people living on the margins of dominant representations. Trained as a social educator before becoming a self-taught filmmaker, the Geneva-born director has repeatedly drawn on his professional background in his films, including Tapis Rouge, co-directed with Kantarama Gahigiri, and The Fam, which won the Grand Prix of the International Jury in the Generation 14plus section of the Berlinale in 2021.

Baillif also serves as editor, with Joseph Areddy on board as cinematographer. The creative team includes production sound recordist David Puntener, sound editor François Wolf, re-recording mixer Maxence Ciekawy, production designer Anne-Carmen Vuilleumier, lighting designers Paulo Leite Da Silva and Sophie Dascal, costume designer Ayelen Gabin Portmann, make-up artist Virginie Pernet, composer Grégoire Maret, and colourist Boris Rabusseau.

A Job Well Done is being produced by Thomas Reichlin and Britta Rindelaub for Geneva-based Alva Film and Fred Baillif for Freshprod along with RTS - Radio Télévision Suisse. Frenetic Films Distribution holds the Swiss distribution rights.