Focus 9 to 5
“Work” – a core element of the social, economic, and cultural organization.
To contextualize it in animation, I looked for films that approach this category from the perspective of ethics and gender. The curated programme consists of two feature films from China and South Korea that address the theme of “Working Out the Dichotomies: Unemployment and Unionising,” as well as two short film programmes (“We Are the World, We Are the Assets” and “Even a Girl Could Do It”).
While the films adhere to different artistic principles, they all stem from a position of cultural criticism, aimed at understanding the capitalist and colonial roots of an organizational system that favours stratification and exploitation. A sidenote I made during my research: “Virtually no artist portrays labour as a source of self-fulfilment and pride. Would that be too boring, perhaps propagandistic, or is there truly no alternative?” (Olga Bobrowska)