Commodity City

2017 | USA, China | 11 min.

Showing In

Machines
Dutmers at the Dennos Museum Wed, Jul 26, 2017 3:00 PM
The textile industry has been booming in Western India since the 1960s, evolving with little regard for its labor force. This nightmarish exposé uses footage collected primarily from a factory in Gujarat to take us behind the scenes to expose the harsh conditions laborers endure, and uses intimate first person interviews to demonstrate the impact on health and home life. Jain’s film is as disturbing as it is an impressive work of art, blurring the dark colors of the maze-like warehouse interior with the workers stained with dye, contrasting the stark light outside with light from the few unreachably high windows. “Machines” provides a tragically beautiful way for us to take notice of a problem seemingly worlds away from the reach of Western civilization.

This film is part of our FREE Buzz movies series.
Machines
Dutmers at the Dennos Museum Sat, Jul 29, 2017 9:00 AM
The textile industry has been booming in Western India since the 1960s, evolving with little regard for its labor force. This nightmarish exposé uses footage collected primarily from a factory in Gujarat to take us behind the scenes to expose the harsh conditions laborers endure, and uses intimate first person interviews to demonstrate the impact on health and home life. Jain’s film is as disturbing as it is an impressive work of art, blurring the dark colors of the maze-like warehouse interior with the workers stained with dye, contrasting the stark light outside with light from the few unreachably high windows. “Machines” provides a tragically beautiful way for us to take notice of a problem seemingly worlds away from the reach of Western civilization.

This film is part of our FREE Buzz movies series.
Machines
Dutmers at the Dennos Museum Sun, Jul 30, 2017 6:00 PM
The textile industry has been booming in Western India since the 1960s, evolving with little regard for its labor force. This nightmarish exposé uses footage collected primarily from a factory in Gujarat to take us behind the scenes to expose the harsh conditions laborers endure, and uses intimate first person interviews to demonstrate the impact on health and home life. Jain’s film is as disturbing as it is an impressive work of art, blurring the dark colors of the maze-like warehouse interior with the workers stained with dye, contrasting the stark light outside with light from the few unreachably high windows. “Machines” provides a tragically beautiful way for us to take notice of a problem seemingly worlds away from the reach of Western civilization.

This film is part of our FREE Buzz movies series.
Film Info
Section:Short Films
Release Year:2017
Runtime:11 min.
Production Country:USA
China
Original Language:Mandarin
Subtitles:English
Cast/Crew Info
Director:Jessica Kingdon
Produced by:Kira Simon-Kennedy
Editing By:Daniel Garcia
Jessica Kingdon

Description

An observational documentary exploring the daily lives of vendors who work in the largest wholesale consumer market in the world: the Yiwu Markets in China. Explores moments of tension between commerce and individuality, between the goods for sale and the humans who sell them.