ULTIMATE
DOCS COMPETITION
CALCUTTA
CALLING
Germany,
India, 2006, 16 min., English.
Director: André
Hörmann
Cinematogpahy: Thomas Bergmann
Editing: Vincent Assmann
Sound: Ingo Baier
Producer: Anna Wendt
Production Companies: HFF Potsdam-Babelsberg
Print Source:
Martina Liebnitz
Marlene-Dietrichh-Allee
11/14482 Germany
Tel.: +49 331 620 2140
e-mail: Andre-hoermann@gmx.de
www.hff-potsdam.de
Calcutta Calling
Chances
are you’ve spoken to Ethan Reed over the phone. His
real name is Vikeeh Uppal and he is one of over 350,000 people
currently working in call centers across India. Calcutta Calling
is an energetic and timely snapshot of globalization at work
that takes viewers into the quickly expanding world of Business
Process Outsourcing, which offers young and motivated men
like Vikeeh the opportunity to make a nice living selling
everything from cell phones to fire extinguishers to customers
in America and Great Britain (for the record, he finds the
British more polite). Although he has never been out of Calcutta,
Vikhee, who presents himself as Ethan to his customers, works
hard to be a top seller in what’s become a very competitive
industry. He gets tutored in the English language, learns
pronunciation from commercials and movies, and watches Manchester
United soccer matches to gain insight into the people he interacts
with on a daily basis. Though he is intent on maintaining
Indian values and customs, Western influences have seeped
into his life: Nokia is his favorite cell phone brand and
Levi’s his favorite jeans.
 Andre
Hoermann was born in Bremen, Germany in 1975. Since 1995 he
has worked in Development Company for TV Programs in Dusseldorf,
in Potel Film and Medien in Ulm, and Institute for Media Research
& Development, also in Ulm. From 1997 to 2000 he studied
political science and sociology at the Humboldt University
in Berlin. He graduated from the Konrad Wolf Academy for Film
& TV in Potsdam in 2006. Andre spent six months in Hanoy,
Vietnam in 2004 as exchange student, and in 2005 he was on
exchange for three months in Calcutta. He completed several
short film schools.
Filmography:
Calcutta
Calling (2006), a documentary debut.
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