Interview: On Falling director Laura Carreira and her ‘partner piece’ for a Ken Loach classic
For her debut feature, director Laura Carreira takes us into a world that we probably never think about – and it led her to a group of filmmakers that felt like family. The award-winning On Falling, which is released this week, follows the life of a warehouse picker and is, she agrees, something of a partner piece for Ken Loach’s Sorry We Missed You.
Originally from Portugal, Aurora (Joana Santos) works in a huge, anonymous fulfilment centre. But, although she’s surrounded by other people at work, it’s a solitary job, full of the constraints that go with the gig economy, and her flatshare gives her little opportunity to make real connections with other people. Her efforts to break away from the loneliness and small talk of her everyday life feel fruitless and her sense of self is threatened in an intimate and honest portrait of the pressures and effects of working in a world where the algorithm rules.
MORE: READ OUR REVIEW OF “ON FALLING” HERE
The film was made in conjunction with Ken Loach’s Sixteen Films and for Carreira, who was inspired by his films as a teenager, it was a great fit. In the interview below, she recalls, “I worked with Paul Laverty, who was really ive, and it felt like being part of a family. We see cinema, and the world as well, in a similar way.” And, having talked to actual warehouse pickers as part of her research, she explains how a lot of what she learnt from them found its way into the film.
Half of the cast were non-actors and Carreira also describes how that brought some unexpected benefits, especially when it came to the film’s dialogue. “It brought different voices into the film and was very collaborative.”
Check out the full interview:
On Falling opens in UK cinemas on 7 March.
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