Belgium - Famous sell underwear to raise money
(20 Oct 1997) T/I: 10:41:58 The closure of a car manufacturing plant in Belgium recently has got the rich and famous dropping their underpants in protest. Recently 3000 workers at Renault's Vilvoorde plant lost their jobs when the factory was closed. Angry at the massive job losses, film-maker Jan Bucquoy decided to raise money to make a film on the issue. He decided to auction off a collection of famous people's underwear to raise the money to make his satirical film on the Vilvoorde job losses. For four months Jan filmed workers at the factory until its closure last summer. He says he wants the film, which features the Renault boss Louis Schweitzer coming to a rather grizzly end, to teach the workers to stand and up and fight for their right to a livelihood. SHOWS: GHENT, BELGIUM, RECENT MS various underwear mounted in frames hanging on walls; CU plaque on wall; CU underwear on wall; Man at his desk opening envelope containing underwear; SOT Jan Bucquoy, film-maker in French: "It is so typical of our society. 3000 people loose their job from one day to the other. Therefore it is interesting to have some documentation of it. That was the initial idea, but then I thought I could introduce this film in my series, "The Sexual Drive of Belgians", because this is happening today in Belgium. What can I tell those workers, what should they do." CU poster of film called the Sexual life of the Belgians; SOT Jan Bucquoy in French: "This is about the relationship between management and the working class, I wanted to tell the workers to be more aggressive, if they want their factory to stay open, then they have to kidnap Louis Schweitzer, and if that doesn't work then they need to kill him." WS crowd at auction; MS man holding up a pair of framed underpants; MS bidders; Woman bidding; CU man auctioneer; CU stack of framed underwear; Pan across table; Rear shot of auctioneer and bidders. 2.43 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: / ap_archive Facebook: / aparchives Instagram: / apnews You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...
