Clean and Pure
Cleaning is an everyday Sisyphean task. But a look behind the war on dirt reveals a greater social and religious context. We meet a range of people whose lives revolve around cleaning: street sweepers, Christians, philosophers, Jews, cleaning ladies and Muslims, all challenge the value systems we use to structure our lives. There’s the theologian who ‘writes’ while cleaning lavatories, and the cleaning lady who muses about the shape of the toilet. By turns surprising and informative, earthy and profound, the various aspects of cleaning combine and recombine until preconceived ideas about a supposedly lowly job are flushed away.
Author and Director: Ruth Schläpfer
DOP: Ueli Grossenbacher
Sound: Olivier JeanRichard
Editor: Ruth Schläpfer
Music: Knut Jensen
Production: Claudia Frei
Coproduction: Schweizer Fernsehen, Redaktion Sternstunde Religion
Awards
Nominated for the 1. Basler Filmpreis as best short, 2009
Festivals
DOKMarkt Digital, Intern. Dokumentar- und Animationsfilmfestival Leipzig