Rerum Novarum by Sebastian Schindel (Argentina)
Host
Phara De Aguirre & winner Sebastian Schindel
Sebastian Schindel
Story
A film that tells the “why” of the recent economical and social disaster of Argentina.
Despite the fact that the Flandria cotton plant has been closed for years, the factory orchestra, Rerum Novarum, keeps on rehearsing. The old workers live for their orchestra, which functions not solely as a reminder of better days, but also as the only point in a society otherwise characterized by the actual social and economic situation in Argentina.
In bittersweet nostalgia, the documentary shows old flemish newsreels from the factory’s glory days, from a time when the workers wages were almost equal to those of a bank manager and when social benefits were bestowed upon all. But neither the workers unyielding optimism nor their love for music can hide their fear of what the future might bring.
Rerum Novarum has been screened for 15 weeks in film theaters in Buenos Aires City and reached the number of 10.000 tickets sold in Argentina.
Rerum Novarum has obtained an award as Best Movie in the IDAC Documentary Film Festival of Buenos Aires and was the winner of the Third Contest of Postproduction for Latin America made by OCIC and FIPCA, 2000. The documentary film has also been nominated at several festivals.
Sebastian Schindel was born in 1975 in Buenos Aires. In 1994 he obtained a diploma in Mass Media Technics. After working for several radio stations and TV programs, he returned to the Buenos Aires University to study Philosophy and Greek tragedy. At the same time he is pursuing his career as Cinematographical Photography Director in the ENERC Institute. He is also taking courses in aesthetics and photographic language.
Subject
Jules Steverlynck, a Belgian industrial, went to Argentina in 1927 and started the cotton plant Flandria. Ten years later, he started up a factory band and provided social services for the workers. They were paid double the amount they would have received elsewhere in Argentina. In its heyday, the factory counted over 3000 workers.
In 1996 the factory got shut down. But the former workers and their children keep on playing music to keep the dream of Rerum Novarum alive.
