‘Business Process Outsourcing’ is the fastest growing industry in the world. In India, approximately 350,000 people are currently working in call centers to maintain the contact between western companies and their customers. Vikhee Uppal is one of them. From a busy office in Calcutta, he pretends to be a guy named Ethan Reed and calls Americans, Brits and Australians to try and sell them cell phones and subscriptions. Vikhee hopes to make it in this sector. Even though Vikhee pretends to be a westerner at work, Indian traditions remain very important for him. He wants to get married to a girl from Punjab, and if he doesn’t succeed, his family will find a bride for him. At work, Vikhee gets tutored in English. Each night, he watches English soccer matches to see what the people on the other end of the line actually look like.
Andre Hörmann
Andre Hörmann was born in Bremen in 1975. From 1995 he works in Development Company for Television Programs in Düsseldorf, in Potel Film & Medien Company in Ulm, and Institute for Media Research and Media Development, also in Ulm. From 1997 to 2000 he was studying at Berlin Humboldt University. He continued his studies at Konrad Wolf Academy for Film and TV in Potsdam, where he graduated in 2006. In 2004 he spent six months in Hanoy (SR Vietnam) on student exchange program, and the year after he was on exchange for three months in Calcutta. ‘Without Breath’ is his Potsdam Academy graduation film.
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Calcutta Calling
Germany
2006, 16', color, video
Directed by:
Andre Hörmann
Cinematography:
Thomas Bergmann
Edited by:
Vincent Assmann
Music:
Andre Nitze
Producers:
Cathleen Hoffmann, Anna Wendt
Produced by:
HFF Potsdam-Babelsberg
