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"A poetic and hybrid study of industrial life, factories and the meaning of labour … entirely mesmerising." – Screen
Clanking and shuddering, various machines fulfil their purposes, waited upon by human assistants. For a while, the workers silently complete their duties; later, they speak about what they do. What is their relationship to the apparatuses they attend to? Are they masters, slaves or equals?
An exploration of humankind's interaction with machinery, Joy of Man's Desiring is the latest work from uncompromising Canadian director Denis Côté (Bestiaire, MIFF 2012; Vic + Flo Saw a Bear, MIFF 2013). A deliberately observed cine-essay and paean to work, it is as formally rigorous as it is subtly – and subversively – humorous.
"Côté pairs a palpably ethnographic sensibility here with a cheeky stylisation." – Grolsch Film Works