IL POSTO
A steady Job
An «on the road» documentary on a nomadic life in search of a stable job.
Written and Directed by: Mattia Colombo and Gianluca Matarrese
Country: Italy/France
Year: 2022
Length: 75′- 52′
Format: Doc
Language: Italian
Subtitles: English/French/German
Each month, a multitude of nurses from Southern Italy crosses the country to try their luck in public exams in the main cities of the North. There are just a few jobs available for thousands of candidates. The majority of them try them several times a year. A nurse from a small town near Naples created a low cost bus service travelling overnight, leaving nurses on site to take the exam at dawn. This is the tale of a special bus full of aspiring workers, each one carrying their own story, telling in one voice their hopes and fears for the future.
Director's biography
Mattia Colombo, 1982, author and director. His first short documentary Il Velo (The Veil) was in the Visions du Réel, EIFF Edinburgh International Film Festival, AFI Silver Docs Discovery. The feature film documentary Alberi che camminano, (Trees that walk), written with Erri De Luca, competed in international festivals such as Festival dei Popoli 2014, Slamdance Film Festival. The documentary Voglio dormire con te (I wanna sleep with you), winner of the Corso Salani award, finalist at Filmmaker In Progress Lab, finalist for the Solinas Award Documentary for the Cinema and selected for residence at the Périphérie Cinéastes in Paris, then at the Cinéma du Réel 2015 and Biografilm Festival. The documentary Il Passo (The col), was presented at Visions du Réel. He coordinated and directed the film Ritmo Sbilenco, a documentary about the Italian band, Elio e le Storie Tese, special event at the Festival del Cinema di Roma. He directed the documentary Uninvited, a biographic film about Marcelo Burlon, outsider stylist and DJ. Recently, Mattia directed the documentary B Heroes, and together with Valentina Cicogna, he is currently working on Sconosciuti Puri (Pure unknown), developed within the EURODOC programme, received support from MIBACT, MEDIA Creative Europe and was finalist for the Solinas Award Documentary for the Cinema. Mattia is developing a TV series, together with Valentina Cicogna and screenwriter Sandrone Dazieri.
Gianluca Matarrese (1980) was born in Torino and moved to Paris in 2002 to study cinema and theater. He graduated in History and Critique of North American Cinema at the University of Torino and Paris VIII, also graduating at the Ecole Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq in Paris. In 2008 he started working in French television, as author, reporter, artistic coordinator, segment producer. His own sit-comedy show aired for 100 episodes on OCS networks in France. He also works as an actor for cinema and theater in France. Between 2013 and 2014 he directed two short-films. My Movie-like Kiss was awarded the Achille Valdata at the Torino Film Festival. In 2019 his documentary Everything Must Go won the award for Best Italian Documentary at the Torino Film Festival. His film La dernière séance (The Last Chapter) had its world premiere at the Venice International Film Critic’s Week, winning the Queer Lion, selected at IDFA, Thessaloniki, and it’s currently touring in international festivals. He directed, for France Télévisions, the musical documentary on the singer Barbara Pravi, representative of the Eurovision 2020. His latest film Fashion Babylon just premiered at CPH:DOX.
Director's statement
Il Posto is a documentary about the mirage of a steady job and the tragedy of a nation grappling with unemployment, a journey into the heart of a great moral and economic social crisis that, although is Italian, in part reflects a European condition.
The film is about the generation of the years of mobility and flexibility, lost in uncertainty but still longing for stability and a place in the world.
A generation we both think to know, since we belong to as well.
In a larger scale, we are questioning ourselves on a universal and very topical issue: when work is what defines our identity, in a changing world of smart working, start uppers, freelancers and more, what is the meaning of fighting for a steady job?
Our film “on the road”, shot on board of dozens of buses shuttling from South to North, tells the dreams and fears of some aspiring nurses, their tenacity in this moment of professional uncertainty. Each trip has similar dynamics; the emotional arc is replicated almost identically every month. Even the feelings that move the characters are often similar. And this is why all the journeys, in the end, can become a single journey. The end of which may have the bittersweet taste of defeat but, as in a real road movie, will bring home our protagonists with a different awareness of who they are, what they dream of and what they want for their future.
Mattia Colombo, Gianluca Matarrese
Credits
Original title: Il posto
Directors: Mattia Colombo and Gianluca Matarrese
Produced by: Giovanni Donfrancesco
Image by: Jacopo Loiodice and Mattia Colombo
Editing: Valentina Cicogna and Giorgia Villa
Original Music: Cantautoma
Sound editing, mix, sound design by: Massimo Mariani
Produced by: Altara Films and Bocalupo Films
With: NDR/ARTE and Vosges Télévision, in association with The Family, with the support of CNC, Procirep-Angoa.SCAM – Bourse Brouillon d’un Rêve (France)
Awards
Special Mention Premio Solinas (Italy)
Winner Thessaloniki Agora Doc Award (Greece)
Winner Medimed Award, IDS Industry (Italy)
Winner Milano Film Network 2021 Award (Italy)
Festival
Visions du Réel, Grand Angle
Hot Docs, World Showcase
DMZ Korea, International Competition
Hainan Film Festival, nternational Competition
Festival dei Popoli, Italian Competition
Annecy Cinéma Italien
États généraux du film documentaire – LUSSAS
Filmmaker Milano
Potenza Film Festival
Press
Director's biography
Mattia Colombo, 1982, author and director. His first short documentary Il Velo (The Veil) was in the Visions du Réel, EIFF Edinburgh International Film Festival, AFI Silver Docs Discovery. The feature film documentary Alberi che camminano, (Trees that walk), written with Erri De Luca, competed in international festivals such as Festival dei Popoli 2014, Slamdance Film Festival. The documentary Voglio dormire con te (I wanna sleep with you), winner of the Corso Salani award, finalist at Filmmaker In Progress Lab, finalist for the Solinas Award Documentary for the Cinema and selected for residence at the Périphérie Cinéastes in Paris, then at the Cinéma du Réel 2015 and Biografilm Festival. The documentary Il Passo (The col), was presented at Visions du Réel. He coordinated and directed the film Ritmo Sbilenco, a documentary about the Italian band, Elio e le Storie Tese, special event at the Festival del Cinema di Roma. He directed the documentary Uninvited, a biographic film about Marcelo Burlon, outsider stylist and DJ. Recently, Mattia directed the documentary B Heroes, and together with Valentina Cicogna, he is currently working on Sconosciuti Puri (Pure unknown), developed within the EURODOC programme, received support from MIBACT, MEDIA Creative Europe and was finalist for the Solinas Award Documentary for the Cinema. Mattia is developing a TV series, together with Valentina Cicogna and screenwriter Sandrone Dazieri.
Gianluca Matarrese (1980) was born in Torino and moved to Paris in 2002 to study cinema and theater. He graduated in History and Critique of North American Cinema at the University of Torino and Paris VIII, also graduating at the Ecole Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq in Paris. In 2008 he started working in French television, as author, reporter, artistic coordinator, segment producer. His own sit-comedy show aired for 100 episodes on OCS networks in France. He also works as an actor for cinema and theater in France. Between 2013 and 2014 he directed two short-films. My Movie-like Kiss was awarded the Achille Valdata at the Torino Film Festival. In 2019 his documentary Everything Must Go won the award for Best Italian Documentary at the Torino Film Festival. His film La dernière séance (The Last Chapter) had its world premiere at the Venice International Film Critic’s Week, winning the Queer Lion, selected at IDFA, Thessaloniki, and it’s currently touring in international festivals. He directed, for France Télévisions, the musical documentary on the singer Barbara Pravi, representative of the Eurovision 2020. His latest film Fashion Babylon just premiered at CPH:DOX.
Director's statement
Il Posto is a documentary about the mirage of a steady job and the tragedy of a nation grappling with unemployment, a journey into the heart of a great moral and economic social crisis that, although is Italian, in part reflects a European condition.
The film is about the generation of the years of mobility and flexibility, lost in uncertainty but still longing for stability and a place in the world.
A generation we both think to know, since we belong to as well.
In a larger scale, we are questioning ourselves on a universal and very topical issue: when work is what defines our identity, in a changing world of smart working, start uppers, freelancers and more, what is the meaning of fighting for a steady job?
Our film “on the road”, shot on board of dozens of buses shuttling from South to North, tells the dreams and fears of some aspiring nurses, their tenacity in this moment of professional uncertainty. Each trip has similar dynamics; the emotional arc is replicated almost identically every month. Even the feelings that move the characters are often similar. And this is why all the journeys, in the end, can become a single journey. The end of which may have the bittersweet taste of defeat but, as in a real road movie, will bring home our protagonists with a different awareness of who they are, what they dream of and what they want for their future.
Mattia Colombo, Gianluca Matarrese
Credits
Original title: Il posto
Directors: Mattia Colombo and Gianluca Matarrese
Produced by: Giovanni Donfrancesco
Image by: Jacopo Loiodice and Mattia Colombo
Editing: Valentina Cicogna and Giorgia Villa
Original Music: Cantautoma
Sound editing, mix, sound design by: Massimo Mariani
Produced by: Altara Films and Bocalupo Films
With: NDR/ARTE and Vosges Télévision, in association with The Family, with the support of CNC, Procirep-Angoa.SCAM – Bourse Brouillon d’un Rêve (France)
Awards
Special Mention Premio Solinas (Italy)
Winner Thessaloniki Agora Doc Award (Greece)
Winner Medimed Award, IDS Industry (Italy)
Winner Milano Film Network 2021 Award (Italy)
Festival
Visions du Réel, Grand Angle
Hot Docs, World Showcase
DMZ Korea, International Competition
Hainan Film Festival, International Competition
Festival dei Popoli
Annecy Cinéma Italien
Filmmaker Festival
États généraux du film documentaire – LUSSAS
Potenza Film Festival
