The Future will not be Capitalist
The setting is Paris, seat of the Communist party headquarters in France. The building designed by Oscar Niemeyer in the 1960´s has long since been recognized as an architectural icon and symbol of what was at one time among the most powerful political movements in France. The individuals who work in this builidng are the protagonists of the film. Their tempo determines its speed. Their paths delineate the building. (prod. note)
At the end of the 1960s, when there was still a future, Oscar Niemeyer, living in France, designed the headquarters of the French Communist Party.
Sasha Pirker´s film studies the relationships between this building, with its futuristic qualities, and the contemporary situation of political projects, economic realities and aesthetic attitudes. The cinematic means employed are chosen so as to provide various ways of viewing this unusual building as a physical space, an institution or a historical document, thus looking into its aesthetic effect, its practical use or its political and symbolic meaning. The Future will not be Capitalist alternates between sober insights into the everyday working life of those employed at the party headquarters and shots which make reference to the modernist effect of the shapes and materials of Niemeyer´s building. Off-camera, comments and memories related by the administrator of the headquarters lead the viewer through the building, painting a picture of the current politics of a shrunken party constantly reminded of its ideal state by its magnificent headquarters.
Christian Kravagna / Translation: Anne Koth)
The Future will not be Capitalist
2010
Austria
19 min 16 sec