Documentary Films of Harun Farocki: Indoctrination

Description

From his work in the fiction mode to documentary to installation, German filmmaker Harun Farocki (VIDEOGRAMS OF A REVOLUTION) has consistently explored ideas of language, ideology, perception, and contemporary audio-visual culture. In INDOCTRINATION Farocki recorded a five-day seminar designed to teach management executives how to better present themselves using basic rules of dialectics and rhetoric. Throughout the seminar, a group of young professionals learn verbal skills so they can "sell themselves" better; then they are trained in body language, posture, and facial expression. Using no titles, talking heads, narration, or other conventions of documentary, Farocki manages to expose how big business uses psychology and principles of rhetoric to sell ideas and products. The result is a window into the secret world of corporate behavior, marketing manipulation, and ultimately modern capitalism.