In the midst of the collapse of the jute industrial glory days due to the massive plastic industry, millions of laborers still rely on the noise and dust of jute factory machines to support themselves and their families. Through her beautiful and poetic shots, Nishtha Jain explores the relationship between factory and labor in the jute industry in Bengal, India in her film, The Golden Thread (2022). Each eye-pleasing shot also invites the pain of seeing the dynamics of the jute factory workers’ welfare. The entire chain of jute production from upstream to downstream does not fail to catch Nishtha Jain’s attention, from cutting the reeds along the riverbank, drying them to weaving jute in the two largest jute factories in India.
Along the endless rows of weaving machines, the stories and grievances of the factory workers are told in visuals that are not at all hyperbolic. During the workers’ breaks or in the hustle and bustle of factory activities, the film continues to run with a background sound that tells the stories and hopes of the factory workers. From a flamboyant male worker who also works as a singer, an elderly worker who also works as a healer and his addiction to marijuana, a female worker whose goal is to become a cinematic heroin (the female lead in a film), to the warm dreams of young workers who do not want to work as jute laborers forever.
The Golden Thread (2022) also raises the stakes for the welfare of the hemp workers in the union’s speeches to raise the wage standards of their fellow brothers-in-arms. We can also hear and feel the echoes of the desperation of the fate of the workers who have been displaced by machine modernization as The Golden Thread (2022) gradually fades.
Join in as we see the weaving of the jute and the threading of dreams of the factory workers in The Golden Thread (2022). Be a witness to the last echo of the power of the industrial revolution in this jute mill that has been operating for more than 100 years only in this film. The Golden Thread (2022) is presented in Retrospektif: Nishtha Jain Festival Film Dokumenter 2023. (bonivasios dwi) (Vanis)
Film Details
The Golden Thread (Paat Katha)
Nishtha Jain | 91 Min | 2022 | India, Bosnia-Herzegovina, The Netherlands, Norway, United Kingdom | Color | 21+
Screening Schedule
12.08 | Auditorium IFI-LIP | 19.00 WIB
