Source: youtube.com
Michał Wilczek's 30-second film on the working conditions and the vast discrepancies in the salaries of workers in Europe and India has won the Sukuma Millennium Award
The award was presented on February 3 in Berlin by the musician Moby, who wrote the music for the film and former German Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul. The film also enjoyed its European premiere at the ceremony.
Wilczek's intention was to illustrate the belief that that the work of people in countries around the world should be valued according to the same measure. The film fits in with the idea behind the Sukuma Millenium Award, which is to promote the idea of fair trade in the world and the balanced disbursement of salaries. The screenplay for the film was singled out as the best of the bunch in 2009 and production began that summer.
The 23-year-old Business School Graduate from the city of Bydgoszcz explains:
I got the idea after talking to Mei, a friend of mine from China, with whom I live in Nowy Sącz. We looked back at our joint visit to China. I remembered the Chinese shoe shops where sports shoes were sold for one-eighth of the price in Polish shops. I thought it might be a good subject for a film that relates to Fair Trade.
Source: www.wsb-nlu.edu.pl
The film consists of two parts - the first shows one day in the life of the worker, a worker in a metal processing plant in Europe, the second - a man of the same age and the same level of employment, but working in a shoe factory in India. In presenting the differences between their situations in life, Wilczek argues that in the era of globalization, the idea of fair trade might minimise social differences. While filming in Luxembourg, and after receiving material shot during his time in India, Michał Wilczek edited yet another film called 2nd Sukuma Millennium Award: Behind the Scenes.
The "Sukuma Millennium Award" is intended to support the adopted global development goals of the United Nations introduced in 2000 - known as the Millennium Development Goals - and Fair Trade. Sukuma in the East African Swahili language means "get up, arise", "to defend oneself" or "encourage, stimulate". As part of the "Sukuma Millennium Award", citizens of European countries, regardless of age, can shoot a short film touching the problem of poverty in the world. The winner then gets professional support for the production of the film, which will later be screened in German cinemas.
Link to the film:
www.youtube.comFor more information on the award, see:
www.sukuma.netSource: PAP