HEART OF THE FACTORY
a film by Virna Molina and Ernesto Ardito

SYNOPSIS:

In Argentina, the workers of Zanon Ceramic take the factory in their own hands when the

owner closes it. They start to produce ceramics again, but without bosses.
Now, they feel free. They’ve found in their work a way to grow humanly. But at the same

time, they have to assume a series of responsibilities and challenges. Usually, this

provokes serious arguments among them or with themselves. During that process, the

workers had to study and to overcome themselves in order to solve all the problems linked

to the areas of production. Through the democratic assembly, they found a way to support

their organisation and learn how to take their own decisions in the management. In a

country devastated by an economic debacle, they created two hundred new jobs. Now they

are 470 people working in the factory. Together with 5,000 Neuquen’s inhabitants who

support them, workers have resisted four attempts of evictions. They do not consider

themselves as the new owners of the ceramic factory: on the contrary, they consider the

Neuquén community as the only owner. And they give back in donations to the most

needed sectors the surplus that the factory produces. This is a permanent challenge where

every day they have to fight against a political and economic system that tries to boycott

them. Their biggest obstacle though does not come from the outside. It is about their own

fears inculcated by this society. Although many of them do not know it, if they win the

battle in their consciences they will open the door to build a completely different world.

AWARDS:

First Kodak Award to Best Latin American Project
Mexico City International Contemporary Film Festival (FICCO-Cinemex).
Best Documentary Film
Latin American Council of Social Sciences (CLACSO).
Special Jury Prize
Catalunya Latinamerican Film Festival (Spain).

The film was selected in the official section of the following film festivals:

International Documentary Festival of Amsterdam (IDFA- The Netherlands), La Habana

International Festival of the New Latin American Cinema (Cuba), Mexico City International

Contemporary Film Festival (México), Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival (Greece),

San Diego Latino Film Festival (USA), BAFICI - Buenos Aires International Independent

Film Festival (Argentina), Reykjavik Shorts&Docs Film Festival (Iceland), 1001 International

Documentary Film Festival (Turkey), Valdivia International Film Festival (Chile), Festival de

Biarritz (France), Trieste Latinamerican Film Festival (Italy), Latin American Film Festival of

Catalunia (Spain), African, Asian and Latin American Film Festival of Milan (Italy).

The film was possible with the financial support of:

Jan Vrijman Fund - IDFA - International Documentary Festival of Amsterdam (Holland).
Heart of the Factory was awarded with the Grant for Production an Postproduction.

Alter-cine Fondation (Canada).
Heart of the Factory was awarded with the annual grant of the fund

La Base, Avi Lewis and Naomi Klein, ...and with the solidarity of many people and

organizations from all over the world that helped us to finish the film through the pre buy of

the DVD during the filming.

More information and trailer at:
WWW.CDFDOC.COM.AR
Official Website

From this page you can also buy our other film Raymundo, about the argentine filmmaker,
Raymundo Gleyzer, kidnnaped and murdered by military dictatorship in 1976.
This documentary won 16 international awards. The website is www.filmraymundo.com.ar

You can buy the dvd at www.cdfdoc.com.ar

The Box Contains: 1DVD Original version 129' and Xtras + 1DVD 56' Version
Available with english and french subtitles