Is it possible to be a worker and revolt against the capitalism? Is the outcome of every possible riot known in advance?

…

Željko is the head of the Union at a rolling stock company. His deputy committed suicide after the large public protest. Željko is torn between the guilt he feels because of his friend’s death and the expectation of his fellow workers to lead a strike that should thwart the government’s plans to send the company to bankruptcy.

This is a paradigmatic story of Eastern Europe. It chronicles the fight of the workers who became losers of the transition.  Active in dismantling communism, they failed to adapt to the ways of the new society.

This is a film about fighters and workers, dreamers and revolutionaries, union leaders and trustees in bankruptcy.

For a decade now, this film has followed the struggle of the union members, standing as a witness to the world of work disappearing in front of the camera.

The story that this film deals with is a paradigmatic story of Croatia, but also of all other Eastern European transition countries. Workers who responded to the first ranks of national counter-revolutions, and who in most cases fought for those nations in the war, became losers of the transition with the return of peace time. Active in dismantling the old, the protagonists of this film did not manage to build a new society. This is a film about fighters and workers, dreamers and revolutionaries, union leaders and trustees in bankruptcy, a film about the unprotected right to work.

My personal motivation to follow the struggle of the Gredelj Railway Wagon Factory union for ten years with the camera lies in the fact that a world of work is disappearing in front of us.

Goran Dević

Year: 2023. / Format: DCP / Duration: 79′ / color / Orig. Title: Što da se radi?

Goran Dević

was born in Sisak, Croatia, in 1971. He studied law, archaeology and film art at Academy of Dramatic Art, University of Zagreb, Croatia. His filmography includes several documentaries and short films. Teaches documentary film at the Academy of Dramatic Arts. He is the author of award-winning documentary films: On The Water (2018), The Steel Mill Café (2017), 65+ (2016), Two Furnaces for Udarnik Josip Trojko (2012), Don Juan: Excuse Me, Miss (2010), The Flood (2010), Happy Land (2009), Three (2008), I Have Nothing Nice to Say to You (2005), Imported Crows (2004) and others. Film The Blacks (2009), which he codirected, was his feature film debut also woon grand prix Ljubljana Film Festival Slovenia 2009; grand prix Festival autorskog filma Serbia 2009; FIPRESCI award Cottbus Film Festival Germany 2009; special award for directing Cottbus Film Festival Germany 2009; Golden Arena for directing Pula Film Festival Croatia 2009;

Retrospectives of his documentaries were screened at Arsenal Berlin, Crossing Europe Filmfestival Linz.