CAT&Docs boards Locarno Critics Week-selected She
Paris-based sales outfit CAT&Docs has taken on international sales for Parsifal Reparato’s choral narrative She which is to receive its world premiere as part of this year’s Critics Week at the Locarno Film Festival. The news was announced by CAT&Docs president and CEO Catherine Leclef and Reparato who also has a producer’s credit.
“She embodies everything we love at CAT&Docs: a highly artistic approach to a major social issue,” says Leclef. “While the film focuses on the working conditions of female workers in a Vietnamese electronics factory, it resonates globally, questioning the very structure of the global economy.”
Reparato says he is delighted with CAT&Docs coming on board. “I always thought of them as the best sales agent I could wish for on this project, both because they are among the top players in this sector but, above all, because they have great experience and passion for projects that deal with social issues such as those in She.”
She gives a voice to some of the 80,000 workers in one of the largest electronic industrial plants based in Vietnam. Eighty per cent of the basic workforce are women who have agreed to work 12-hour shifts, day and night. Although each protagonist is different, they are all connected in the exploitation they are subjected to every day.
Reparato explains that creating ongoing relationships over four years with the female workers “who made themselves available, not without sacrifice, was the most exhausting part of my work, but made possible a choral film that brings their voices together.” He adds that “bringing this story of oppression to the West pushed me to research, observe, weave voices and stories against a backdrop of pressure from multinational companies, exerted both on the workers and on local authorities.”
Reparato is an Italian director, producer, anthropologist and journalist whose work combines ethnographic research and a refined cinematic language focused on social justice, labour rights, biodiversity and mental health. He previously directed Nimble Fingers. As well as being the founder of the production company AntropicA, he created the Ethnographic Filmmaking Lab, aimed at supporting young filmmakers with the development of documentary projects.
For over 12 years, he has been conducting research and working as a filmmaker across Southeast Asia, focusing on labour-related issues in collaboration with universities, research institutions and workers’ rights organisations.
Alongside CAT&Doc, Italian distribution rights are with AntropicA and PFA Films, while Les Films de l’oeuil sauvage will distribute the film in France.
SHE - EPK (ENGLISH).pdf
PDF 880 KB
SHE - EPK (ITALIANO).pdf
PDF 830 KB
For interviews before and during the festival/Per interviste prima e durante il festival/Pour des interviews avant et pendant le festival : christian@hypepark.be
Locarno screenings: 9 August, 11:00, La Sala; 10 August, 09:00, PalaCinema 1
International sales: CAT&Docs
Christian De Schutter
