Alain Tanner
Italy | 1994 | 64 min
Languages : Italian, French
Subtitles : French, English
“The sea has its own time, as does the Mediterranean Sea; there is definitely something sacred about this time.” Returning to Genoa, which he first discovered in 1947, Alain Tanner films his post-war dockworker comrades, still attached to the self-management style they invented. A profound and personal reflection on the world of work.
In 1947, 17-year-old Alain Tanner, a fan of Italian neorealism, discovered Genoa. He subsequently returned in 1952 to work for a shipping company. This was his first contact with the world of work, and the “men of the port” who made a profound mark on the future filmmaker. 40 years later, as Berlusconi is ascending to power, he returns to immerse himself in his memories of the great port, “to examine its present and attempt to foresee its future”, laying his poetic and precise voice over travelling shots of what is left of the port’s business, which has become standardised by the arrival of containers and destroyed by privatisation. Above all, he reconnects with the ‘portuali’, who trace for the camera the history of the Compagnia unica del porto di Genova, an exemplary method of self-management and political commitment which they continue to keep alive, with pride… but with less than 10% of the original workforce. With a vibrant and embodied cinematic gesture, Alain Tanner celebrates the dockers’ gesture, who have converted their hard labour into a space of freedom.
Emmanuel Chicon
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Fourbi, 1995
Les Hommes du port, 1994
La Vallée fantôme, 1987
Une flamme dans mon cœur, 1987
Dans la Ville Blanche, 1982
Light Years Away, 1981
Messidor, 1978
Jonas qui aura vingt-cinq ans en l'an 2000, 1976
Le Milieu du monde, 1974
Le retour d’Afrique, 1973
La Salamandre, 1971
Charles mort ou vif, 1969
Une ville à Chandigarh, 1966
Les Apprentis, 1964
L'école, 1962
Ramuz, passage d'un poète, 1961
Nice Time, 1957
