Smiling on the Phone

synopsis

This observational documentary investigates the phenomenon of the call centre as a contemporary labor issue. “A”, employed in a Nike customer service centre, decides to document her last weeks prior to her return to Spain. A casually placed camera captures her loneliness, her colleagues, or aimless shots of a room with strange voices and sounds. It reveals the discrepancy between the image, as presented by the media and as it is promoted among employees, and its perception, which we come to know from text messages sent between “A” and “K” that flash onto the screen. The feelings of alienation and demotivation conflict with the requirement to behave more positively and enthusiastically.

“Smiling on the Phone explores issues of contemporary labor and highlights the political relevance of documenting the workspace while exploring forms of response and resistance to those work-related images created by the powers.”

biography

Spanish filmmaker Aitziber Olaskoag (1980) focuses on unconventional audio-visual projects. She graduated from the Barcelona film school and worked as a camera assistant for commercial productions. She then worked at a number of jobs having nothing to do with film, but began documenting with her own camera. She was involved in the collective project Fake Guide, and María Ruid used her shots from the call centre for her own project Duty-Free Zone.

more about film

director:	Aitziber Olaskoaga
cast:	Rebeca -, Alex -, Richard -, José Manuel -, Aderito -, Ryan -, Aitziber -, Laura -, Jaime -
producer:	Aitziber Olaskoaga
photography:	Aitziber Olaskoaga
editing:	Aitziber Olaskoaga
music:	Coleman Zurkowski
sound:	Alex Reynolds

contact

AITZIBER OLASKOAGA / aitziber.olaskoaga@gmail.com