During the short lobster season, fishermen and plant workers are the economic mainstays of the Magdalen Islands. In a market dominated by the United States, the fragility of the fishery and the future of seafaring and island culture are obvious.
In 1958, Hannah Arendt predicted a society without work. After Work explores this current reality and the quest for meaning in economies such as Italy, the USA, South Korea and Kuwait.
In the 1970s, cleaning ladies from the Catholic University of Louvain threw out their employer and founded Le Balai Libéré, a cleaning cooperative. Decades later, today's staff question the relevance of bossless work by meeting these pioneers.
Ten years after the opening of the gigantic Malartic open-pit gold mine, the hoped-for economic miracle is a mirage. Main Street is not prospering, with no demographic gain. Director Nicolas Paquet exposes an opaque decision-making system that excludes citizens.
In Burkina Faso, young men look under the earth for gold – and a better future. As a result, 16-year-old Rasmané barely seems like a teenager any more. This mainly observational film follows him into the 100-metre abyss of small-scale mining.
In the vast forests of the Canadian West Coast, nature meets industry. Silvicola presents a gallery of captivating characters, revealing the challenges of commodifying this scarce natural resource.