The Nothing Factory (film)

Additional Programme

Before the film screening, the event ‘How to Practice Fair Practice Code? Trust at Veem House’ will take place here in the house.

It is a symposium on the Fair Practic Code, specifically organized for makers and performers in the theatre, where we are going to discuss one of the five pillars of the Fair Practice Code: Trust.

For more info, click here!

The Nothing Factory (2017), directed by Pedro Pinho

One night, a group of workers realizes that their administration has organized the stealing of machines from their factory. They soon understand that this is the first signal of a massive layoff. Most of them refuse to cooperate during the individual negotiations and they start to occupy their workplace. So when the administration vanishes to their great surprise, they’re left with a half-empty factory…

As the world around them collapses, new desires start to emerge.

In Portugal and Europe, the last few years have caused a brutal redefinition of the way in which we look at the world. A lack of prospects and valid discourses about the present has often made us feel ineffectual.

‘The Nothing Factory’ stems from there.

The closing of an elevator factory (one of many that close every month in the industrial outskirts of Lisbon) works as a microcosm and a parable for dramatically exploring the textures and consequences of the feeling of impotence that most people felt during that time.

Under the shadow of bankruptcy, the characters try to stay afloat and look for ways to reshape their lives. Driven by a sense of urgency and some kind of life instinct that remains, as they witness the collapse of their jobs and the institutions they believed in, they are forced to embark, with reluctance and fear, in an unforeseen experience, a collective adventure.