Cinematic explorations at work. How to relate to other people and get along with each other in workplaces and in film-making

Cinematic explorations at work explores new ways of making documentary films by focusing on co-laboration. At the core of the research process is the act of understanding through listening: what it means to really listen to people. Traditionally, documentaries have been primarily shaped through how they are framed, filmed, and edited. Participants usually contribute their experiences but have little influence on how these are represented within the cinematic whole. Even when invited to “tell their own story”, their onscreen presence becomes material to be used by the film production, rather than an active co-creation or mutual exchange. This project asks: what happens when documentary filmmaking becomes an explicitly collaborative process? This will be explored together with workers of different kinds, who have in common their precarious working conditions. Working methods will be elaborated and tested, including reenactment and generative scriptwriting. The project will challenge common film industry infrastructure, and at the same time reveal the filmmaking process itself, showing audiences not only the finished film but also the collaborative negotiations behind it.