An award winning ethnographic documentary
by Piotr Goldstein
About the film
‘Spółdzielnia / Cooperative’ is a visual ethnography portraying the everyday work of a socially engaged cooperative in Manchester, UK, which in the quest to protect the environment sells organic, fair-trade coffee from a self-made bicycle-trailer, and which is run mainly by Polish migrants. The film is, after internationally awarded ‘Active (citizen)’, the second ethnographic documentary of the Visualising the Invisible Project, which looks at the activism of migrants and ethnic minorities outside of their community organisations. The film approaches three key themes. Firstly, it explores the field of everyday activism – the type of activism which happens not in NGOs or protest movements, but rather in everyday engagements, including in social businesses where the balance between activism and moneymaking is continuously confronted and negotiated. Secondly, it looks at migrant activism for causes completely detached from migrant-group advocacy or interests. Finally, it portrays a Polish community that exists in parallel to the formal ‘Polish Community’ epitomised by the Polish church, Saturday school, etc. and is in many ways very different from that community. Recorded over five years of participant observation, the film is also a story of placemaking, belonging and affirming social citizenship in a new country.
The film is available for free for teaching and community screenings – to get a link, please get in touch with the director
Please cite as: Goldstein, Piotr. 2021. Spółdzielnia / Cooperative. Ethnographic documentary. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.10025.36964.
Trailer
Festival Selections and Awards