In most cases an occupation is not a deliberate step towards workers' control but a means of workers' struggle against the closure of a production site or company or the relocation of production to another country. Occupy, Resist, Produce focuses on the rare, better organized cases where the purpose of the struggle is to bring production under workers’ control. The workers do more than protest, they take the initiative and become protagonists, building horizontal social relations on the production sites and adopting mechanisms of direct democracy and collective decision-making. The recuperated workplaces often reinvent themselves, building links with local communities and social movements.

Occupy, Resist, Produce is a series of three films on occupied factories in Milan, Rome and Thessaloniki. In these cases the workers did find ways to organize labour under their own control. Each film is based on discussion with the workers. The workers' assemblies – always the main decision-making bodies – were recorded. It is also important to understand workers’ control or recuperation of workplaces as a socio-political action rather than a merely economic procedure.

Occupy, Resist, Produce – Vio.Me, Oliver Ressler, Dario Azzellini, 30 min, 2015, Colour, Digital
Occupy, Resist, Produce – Officine Zero, Oliver Ressler, Dario Azzellini, 33 min, 2015, Colour, Digital
Occupy, Resist, Produce – RiMaflow, Oliver Ressler, Dario Azzellini, 2014, 34 min, Colour, Digital

Calendar

Individual Programmes: £10 / £8 conc. / £6 Close-Up members, Day Pass: £24 / £18 conc. / £14 Close-Up members

http://www.closeupfilmcentre.com/film_programmes/2017/oliver-ressler/eve...