Palazzina LAF, the directorial debut of Michele Riondino (who co-wrote it with Maurizio Braucci and appears in it), is about one most notorious cases of employment mobbing in the history of Italy, told through the story of one worker at the Ilva industrial complex in Taranto. The true story, which took place in the 1990s, focusses on the limitations imposed on the "rebel" workers who were psychologically bullied, demoted and humiliated; it was brought to light by the judiciary and exposed in Alessandro Leogrande’s reportage Fumo sulla città.
Caterino lives in a farmhouse ruined by its proximity to the steelworks, whose chimneys can be glimpsed in the distance, and dreams of moving to the city with his young girlfriend. This is the Fornaro farmhouse, whose true story goes hand in hand with that portrayed in the film: located on the northern outskirts of Taranto, just kilometres from the ILVA complex, the farm was forced to stop animal breeding and husbandry because of the pollution caused by the factory.
When the company decides to use Caterino as a spy to identify "rebellious" workers, he begins to stalk his colleagues, participating in strikes only to find reasons to report them. Soon, ignorant of the accompanying mortification, he asks to be assigned to the LAF building, where some seventy employees spend their days playing cards, praying or working out, paid not to do their jobs. Caterino discovers first-hand that what appears to be paradise is really a perverse strategy to psychologically bend the most difficult workers, pushing them to resign or accept demotion. There is no way out of that hell for him either.
Taranto is the obvious setting for this story, which is set in 1997 and focusses on one of the largest and most controversial steel plants in Europe located in the city’s Tamburi district, where the events actually took place. Locations include a building in piazza Giovanni XXIII, in the heart of the city. Filming also took place in Massafra(province of Taranto), while the entrance, coke oven, LAF building and other environments were reconstructed at the former Lucchini steel plant in Piombino, Tuscany.
Palazzina LAF, the directorial debut of Michele Riondino (who co-wrote it with Maurizio Braucci and appears in it), is about one most notorious cases of employment mobbing in the history of Italy, told through the story of one worker at the Ilva industrial complex in Taranto. The true story, which took place in the 1990s, focusses on the limitations imposed on the "rebel" workers who were psychologically bullied, demoted and humiliated; it was brought to light by the judiciary and exposed in Alessandro Leogrande’s reportage Fumo sulla città.
Caterino lives in a farmhouse ruined by its proximity to the steelworks, whose chimneys can be glimpsed in the distance, and dreams of moving to the city with his young girlfriend. This is the Fornaro farmhouse, whose true story goes hand in hand with that portrayed in the film: located on the northern outskirts of Taranto, just kilometres from the ILVA complex, the farm was forced to stop animal breeding and husbandry because of the pollution caused by the factory.
When the company decides to use Caterino as a spy to identify "rebellious" workers, he begins to stalk his colleagues, participating in strikes only to find reasons to report them. Soon, ignorant of the accompanying mortification, he asks to be assigned to the LAF building, where some seventy employees spend their days playing cards, praying or working out, paid not to do their jobs. Caterino discovers first-hand that what appears to be paradise is really a perverse strategy to psychologically bend the most difficult workers, pushing them to resign or accept demotion. There is no way out of that hell for him either.
Taranto is the obvious setting for this story, which is set in 1997 and focusses on one of the largest and most controversial steel plants in Europe located in the city’s Tamburi district, where the events actually took place. Locations include a building in piazza Giovanni XXIII, in the heart of the city. Filming also took place in Massafra(province of Taranto), while the entrance, coke oven, LAF building and other environments were reconstructed at the former Lucchini steel plant in Piombino, Tuscany.
Palomar, Bravo, BIM Produzione, Paprika Films, Rai Cinema
Caterino is one of the many factory workers at the Ilva industrial complex in Taranto. When the company decides to use him as a spy to identify those employees it would best be rid of, Caterino begins to stalk his colleagues, taking part in factory strikes only and exclusively because he is looking for reasons to report them.
