COTTON 100% (Germany/Uzbekistan, 2022, 68′)

Thursday October 5th, 10 a.m, Polytechnic of Turin – Room 5

Event in collaboration with CGIL-CISL-UIL Turin and Polytechnic of Turin

Job Film Days presents in collaboration with CGIL-CISL-UIL Turin and Polytechnic of Turin, the film Cotton 100% (Germany-Uzbekistan, 2022) by Uzbek director Mikhail Borodin at the Polytechnic of Turin, on Thursday, October 5th at 10 a.m. Borodin?s previous feature film, Convenience Store, was selected at the Section Panorama of the 72 edition of Berlinale. The screening, in national preview, will be the occasion to reflect on the heavy work conditions and the environmental repercussions of the cotton industry in Uzbekistan, which Borodin is exceptionally able to access.

The event is addressed to Workers’ Safety Representatives (RLS and RLST) and to students of the course “digital and creative industries” held by professor Tiziana Mazali (Polytechnic of Turin, Department of Project Sciences and Spatial Policy).

Followed by a debate with the participation of Tiziana Mazali, Francesca Re David (CGIL National Secretariat) e Evelin Toth (Programme Manager for Workers’ Activities for Europe and Central Asia at the International Training Centre, ITCILO). Moderated by Massimiliano Quirico (Safety and Work Association).

Admission mode: entrance upon invitation

Director: Mikhail Borodin
Screenplay, photography: Timur Karpov, Mikhail Borodin
Starring: Mukhabbat Madrimova, Yelena Urlaeva
Production: 139 Documentary Center, Einbahnstrasse Productions

Uzbekistan’s cotton industry gained a sad notoriety for the ecological havoc it caused, including the almost complete disappearance of the Aral Lake. Even the working conditions are problematic. Activist Yelena looks for the cotton pickers? help to bring the abuses that they are forced to endure everyday to light and ensure that their rights will finally be guaranteed. Mukhabbat is a farmer and activist in the International Labor Organization. Two strong and determined women facing the challenges of a society where forced labor is the norm.

Mikhail Borodin (Toytepa, Uzbekistan, 1987) shot his first movie at 18 years old. After graduating, he moved to Moscow to study film direction in 2010. He carried out various jobs before entering the school of cinema and pursuing his passion for the seventh art. In 2017 he created the short film Crimea Is Ours, a comedy about the Russian annexation of Crimea. In 2022 he debuted in the feature-film with Convenience Store, on the traffic of Uzbek women in Russia deceived and forced into prostitution. A director, screenwriter and producer, Borodin lives in Uzbekistan and Russia creating movies that deal with pressing social issues.

Filmography: Crimea Is Ours (sf, 2017), Normal (sf, 2018), Registration (sf, 2019), Convenience Store (2022), Cotton 100% (doc., 2022).