Synopsis
They do accounting, handle human-resources matters and run sales for a car dealership. They answer the phone, peck at their keyboards, organize meetings and take lunch breaks. They learn to type faster, speak better, project self-confidence. With their pay, they buy fancy vacations or giant pythons. What’s going on in this (almost) ordinary company? In this drily funny short, Paul Heintz slowly sows doubts, highlighting the absurdity of corporate work.
A word from Tënk
“Things have gotten very strange,” says a friend as he explains his new work situation amidst COVID lockdowns, “I feel like I’m just typing words into a computer and then the computer sends me money so I can buy food.” Disconnected from people and place many kinds of labour have begun to reveal more of their innate absurdity. Well before the Great Confinement and the rising questioning of why we work and for whom, Paul Heintz’ Non contractuel was looking at labour from the opposite side of the fun-house mirror. Exploring the world of Autodis, a ‘different’ kind of company, Heintz presents a portrait of a small piece of society that one may have felt inclined to chuckle at. Now, not so much.
Benjamin R. Taylor
Director and programmer, VISIONS
Cofounder of La lumière collective
