DISCOUNT WORKERS

A textile factory fire in Karachi, Pakistan, kills over 260 workers, among them a widow’s only son. Saeeda’s transformation from domestic mother to influential activist brings her to the centre of a male-dominated workers’ rights movement. A journey along the supply chain of the fashion industry reveals that change may in fact be coming from those at its very end.

Ammar Aziz is a Pakistani director based in Pakistan. His filmography contains mostly documentaries about labour and gender issues. His debut feature documentary A WALNUT TREE, completed in 2015, portrays an internally displaced Afghani family in Pakistan. It premiered in the First Appearance Competition at IDFA 2015 and played at HOT DOCS and numerous other renowned festivals. As a filmmaker, Aziz is known best for his work about the working class of Pakistan. The Christian Science Monitor featured him among ’30 under 30′ people from all over the world for his art and activism. A graduate of Lahore’s National College of Arts, he was the only filmmaker from Pakistan to be selected in 2012 for the Talent Campus of the Berlin International Film Festival.

Christopher Patz, author and co-director, is a documentary film director of German/Australian origin with experience in creative documentaries and visual story telling as well as political documentary reportages. He is an alumni of erasmus mundus Masters in Documentary in film directing and production (Docnomads Masters) between Lisbon, Budapest and Brussels. Along with his filmmaking experience, he is also a lawyer (ANU). He has work experience as a trainee lawyer with the European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights ECHHR. He has worked on judicial cases of corporate accountability in global supply chains, with a focus on private auditing companies, and understands the German and Italian case materials. His work has been shown in Australia and Europe at various film festivals.

Directors
Ammar Aziz & Christopher Patz

Writer
Christopher Patz

Cinematography
Christopher Patz

Editor
Farah Kassem
Sigurður Hallmar Magnússon

Music & Sound Design
Rakae Jamil
Marijn Degenaar
Vinzenz Schwab

Sound
Maryam Bayani
Ahsan Mahmood

Producer
Veronika Janatková
Christopher Patz
Stefan Kloos

Production
Kloos & Co. Medien

World Sales
Rise and Shine World Sales

Creative Europe Programme – MEDIA of the European Union
Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung with funds from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development
Solidarity fund of the Hans-Böckler-Stiftung
Stiftung Menschenwürde und Arbeitswelt

World Premiere
One World – International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival 2020, Prague, Czech Republic

Further Festivals
International Human Rights Film Festival Berlin 2020, Germany