In 2005, ITAS factory in Ivanec was occupied by its workers who took over the management of the factory, thus becoming the only successful example of workers’ self-management in the post-socialist Europe. Ten years later, the employees are struggling to survive in the world where the forces of the global market have increasingly devastating effects on the factory’s operation – the wages are dwindling and the workers are not happy with the factory organization. The film’s author Srđan Kovačević followed the workers and their efforts over a five-year period. It is a portrait of a community who joins forces to protect its labor and of the cost they are forced to pay on their way to that goal. The question remains: can a factory managed by its workers survive on the margins of capitalism or do we need a bigger dream?

Srđan Kovačević (1982) is a director and cinematographer from Zagreb. In 2009, he earned a degree in Cinematography from the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb. Since 2000, he has worked as a cameraman for various independent regional film and TV productions (Fade In, Pro.ba, Drugi plan, Factum, Restart, etc.). As a cinematographer and cameraman, he has made several documentary films, including Kinofil (2010) by Damir Janeček, Naked Island (2014) by Tiha Klara Gudac, Days of Madness (2018) by Damian Nenadić, and others. Factory to the Workers is his directorial feature debut.

Thursday 29/07 at 21:15, Cinema Billy