Fantoche
25th International Animation
Film Festival, Baden/Switzerland
7 – 12 September 2027
DE FR
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Focus 9 to 5

We Are the World, We Are the Assets

This programme focuses on the subject of labour – on those who perform the tasks yet ultimately become mere resources within the global work system. It raises questions about the agency of working individuals, and how that agency can be exercised – or surrendered – in relation to ethics and mental well-being. It is crucial to consider the broad spectrum of systemic labour exploitation, addressing both physical workers, whose natural environments are being polluted and destroyed, and those whose “mysterious and important” tasks sustain machine learning systems. Eventually, we are confronted with the question: are we essential, expandable, or at least recyclable?

Appointments & Tickets

Wed 3.9. • 22:45
Cinema Trafo 3
Ticket
Fri 5.9. • 18:30
Cinema Sterk 1
Ticket
Sun 7.9. • 10:00
Cinema Trafo 3
Ticket
18+ 66'

Presenting Partner

ifa Institute for Occupational Medicine

Supported by

SWISSLOS Kanton Aargau

Curated by

Olga Bobrowska

Films

The Levers, Boyoung Kim, KR 2019
The Levers
A man looks like he needs a job. Another man comes with a proposal – the job offered is simple: it only requires listening to music and pulling levers. This economic arrangement favours simplicity and compliance through looking away and mishearing. Direction Boyoung Kim Duration 9' Language Korean Country South Korea Year 2019
Animation Hyun Kim Screenplay Boyoung Kim Music Doug Maxwell Sound design Boyoung Kim Production Nayoung Kim

(Fool Time) JOB, Gilles Cuvelier, FR 2017_04.jpg
(Fool Time) JOB
A puzzling and disturbing film that employs refined, black-and-white, grainy aesthetics. Interspecies creatures (combining characteristics of birds and mammals, including humans) maintain an oppressive, capitalist system of work and life that merges Darwinism with corporate culture. Direction Gilles Cuvelier Duration 17' Country France Year 2017
Animation Thomas Machart Screenplay Gilles Cuvelier Music Fred Meert Sound design Fred Meert Cut Gabriel Jacquel Production Richard Van Den Boom Distributor Richard Van Den Boom

AFTERWORK, Luis Uson, Andrés Aguilar, EC 2017_05.jpg
Afterwork
What if the golden era of US cartoons never ended? It’s hilarious how that silly old Groompy keeps getting smacked around by Yummy, who’s a real trickster! But did you realise that Groompy is actually a genuine actor? Did you know he is caught in a miserable routine both on screen and in real life? Direction Luis Usón Duration 6' Country Ecuador, Spain, Peru Year 2017
Animation Luis Usón Music Manuel Riveiro Sound design Andrés Carrillo

Machini, Frank Mukunday, Tétshim, CD IT BE 2019
Machini
A powerful tale based on truth, a story that is both universal and local. Through the ongoing practices of Western colonisation in Congo, an exploitative economy overtakes public and individual lives, turning people into machines and reality into dystopia.
Direction Frank Mukunday Duration 10' Language French Country Belgium, Congo - Kinshasa Year 2019
Animation Frank Mukunday Screenplay Frank Mukunday Music Francesco Nchikala Sound design Spilulu Mbolela Distributor Valéria Musio

Their Eyes, Nicolas Gourault, FR 2025
Their Eyes
The workers of our brave new hybrid world annotate and segment images; everything has to be labelled and assigned to categories. This documentary work, deriving from new media aesthetics, thematises global divisions within labour structures and the consequences of accelerating digitalisation. Direction Nicolas Gourault Duration 23' Language English Country France Year 2025
Animation Nicolas Gourault Screenplay Nicolas Gourault Sound design Etienne André Distributor Square Eyes

Human Resources, Trinidad Plass Caussade, Titouan Tillier, Isaac Wenzek, FR 2022
Human Resources
This daring animated mockumentary sees felt puppets confronted with a ramified bureaucracy and life-and-death questions – among them: What should they become when they have lost their usefulness? Emma de Swaef’s and Marc Roels’s “Oh, Willy” meets Yiorgos Lanthimos’s “The Lobster”. Direction Trinidad Plass Caussade Duration 3' Language French Country France Year 2022
Animation Trinidad Plass Caussade Screenplay Trinidad Plass Caussade Sound design Sylvain Debretagne Distributor MIYU Distribution