Swiss director/producer Charlie Petersmann and producer Stephanie Argerich (mnemosyn films) presented their work-in-progress about the innate lyricism and cultural diversity of the local construction industry. The film follows ‘the lives of men who came from elsewhere to build the Switzerland of tomorrow,’ say the filmmakers.
“I used to work as a bricklayer for several years when I was younger and it is a world that has always (interested) me with it’s incredible diversity of origins and social backgrounds,” commented director Petersmann, whose medium-length Miss Rain received a special mention of the International jury at Visions du Réel 2017. “With this film I want to show the human richness behind the hard work and its reality – which is usually kept invisible.”
In Switzerland, he said, such labour is often left for migrant workers, much of it seasonal and with little opportunity to establish roots or even be joined by family. “I witnessed on a daily basis back then the situation of these workers around me who never really found their place in a country which they are building up. Although this discriminatory status was abandoned when the bilateral agreements for the EC came into force the situation, nowadays it [still] hasn’t really changed.”
“For me a construction site is a bit like in no-man’s land,” he added. “It’s a window through which one can observe a society, as it shows without filters its inequalities, its hierarchies, sometimes the racism but also the solidarity between people, the friendships, the shared feelings of solitude.”
Shot over three years within a major city-centre development, the doc features characters such as Portuguese Jorge, 60 years old, who lives in the remote countryside and overcomes his loneliness by planting flowers; 52-year-old Yarek from Poland who is going through a divorce after having spent too much time far away from his wife and daughter, and Jacques, a Senegalese scrap metal worker whose son comes to visit, confronting him with the consequences of a long distance paternity.
Under Open Skies is fully financed through Swiss funds and broadcaster RTS as co-producer. “We now have a picture lock and are now working on the sound design,” says producer Stephanie Argerich. “The mixing and colour grading are planned for the summer [2021] so the film will be finished by the end of July.” At VdR she is looking for distribution, TV sales and festival interest. To further whet industry appetites she explained how the film “hints of the challenges this community of builders, bricklayers, metalworkers and electricians face not only as workers but also as men. It also shows to what extent women, despite being strongly off frame, are very present.”
“Beside these human topics [that] I want to explore, I also felt the urge to film this universe in a very physical way, the materials, the movements, the sounds, the transformation of spaces through time et cetera, and I wanted to emerge myself and the viewer into these elements and show also the beauty of it while mixing it with a more intimate portrait of construction workers,” Petersmann ended.
