THE BOOT FACTORY
Director: Lech Kowalski
Polish with English subtitles
Video 88 minutes. 2000

In a tiny concrete warehouse outside of Krakow, Poland a band of outsiders drink, smoke dope, rant, rave and still manage to make up to eighty pairs of boots a week. They function in the spirit of Rock band and their hand-sewn boots have become a cultural phenomenon. Imagine the Sex Pistols making boots instead of music.

The story begins with three of these young dropouts striving to improve their situation and develop the factory. Scarred, tattooed and pierced, they all have hard times, from jail to addiction. The Boot Factory is a foray into the blue-collar microcosm, catered with beer and filmed through shards of coal is a hyper realistic portrait of a younger generation.