The Pickers

Opening Ceremony

Followed by a Q&A with director Elke Sasse and a representative of FAU Freiburg

Wednesday 06.11.2024 | 19:30

Elke Sasse (Germany | 2024 | 80 minutes)

Language: Various, narration in German

Subtitles: German

Moderation Language: German

CINEMA ROOM

We are delighted to be opening this year’s festival with the film “The Pickers”.

The Pickers is a journey to the European fields where our fruit and vegetables are grown: In southern Italy, Seydou from Mali picks oranges. He has no contract and is paid by the crate. He lives in a self-built hut in a settlement without water or electricity.

Blueberries in Portugal, olives in Greece, strawberries in Spain – one million migrants are currently working in European fields.

The pickers are the mobile workers who fill the baskets of our supermarkets, most of them without a contract or minimum wage, some without papers or with high debts to intermediaries. What we see gives what we eat every day a bitter taste: our daily fruit and vegetables are rooted in a system of exploitation.

No way out of this system? There is: Pape from Senegal produces fair oranges in southern Italy: “We don’t want to be seen as revolutionary, we want this to become the new normal!”

After the screening, director Elke Sasse and the FAU Freiburg will answer questions about the film and the situation of seasonal workers in the region here.

PLEASE NOTE: The cinema room is fully booked for this film. Due to high demand, we will also be showing the film in parallel in the gallery of Kommunales Kino though. Tickets for this screening can also be book through the link below. The discussion after the film will take place in the cinema. We are currently trying to make a livestream of the discussion in the gallery possible.

Note: Although no entrance fee is required, it is recommended to book in advance. Choose the film session you are interested in on our Filmfreeway platform (tickets are organised per film name and follow the chronological order of our festival). There are no assigned seats.  Please come half an hour before the session. We will give away the tickets that haven’t been collected 15 minutes before the session starts.