Life as a Corporate Holiday

Paolo Muran, Italy, 2006

Synopsis
Silvano Bignozzi and Lino Toselli have been working as salesmen of camomile tea and spirits for 30 years. They are both from Bologna, but travel all over the country to sell their goods. Not without success, because all these years they have always won the deluxe vacation the company bestows on its best salesmen. With the firm footing the bill, they have travelled to various remote corners of the globe: they went on a safari in Kenya, rode camels in Saudi Arabia and visited temples in Asia. This year, they are going to Cuba. We meet the two gentlemen through the man who has been filming them on their excursions for the past 15 years. With a twinge of irony, he comments on the footage of 15 holidays in exotic places. The phenomenon of the company excursion turns out to be strikingly uniform, no matter how different the destination is. We see how the group, which is almost exclusively male, invariably takes a bus tour on the first day, and can barely keep their eyes open the first evening as they watch a traditional show with song, dance and a lot of half-naked women. But this year, things are different, as Bignozzi and Toselli have decided to stay in Cuba longer - a whole week without travel guides and mandatory activities.