The first in our 2025 series of interviews with the nominees of The Douglas Hickox (Best Debut Director) award being featured on Directors Notes in our ongoing partnership with BIFA, Edinburgh-based filmmaker Laura Carreira joins us with her debut feature On Falling where she masterfully translates the stark realities of the modern gig economy into a profoundly human and sensory cinematic experience. Made with the support of Ken Loach’s Sixteen Films—introduced to Carreira by BBC Films and Screen Scotland—the writer/director accomplishes the remarkable feat of crafting a deeply immersive and engaging film from the very essence of her protagonist’s loneliness. On Falling follows young Portuguese migrant worker, Aurora, adrift in the stark, humming expanse of a Scottish fulfilment warehouse, her life defined by the monotony of precarious labour. Rather than merely depicting isolation, Carreira makes her audience feel its weight in every frame, transforming the vastness of the warehouse and the silence of a shared flat into palpable, oppressive forces. This is not a film about people being cruel, but about the profound alienation that persists even amidst crowds and within a capitalist system functioning exactly as designed, to use workers as productivity line items with little regard for the effect that has on their lives. On Falling is a tremendously moving piece of work from a clear and compassionate authorial voice, challenging the dehumanising structures of contemporary work while still finding glimmers of hope. In our interview, we delve into how Carreira built her feature from the foundations of her earlier short films Red Hill and The Shift, which also explore work and identity. We also discuss the deliberate removal of traditional antagonists to sharpen the film’s social critique and the intricate sound design that amplifies Aurora’s isolation.
Throughout the film, she starts giving meaning to the items she picks. We see a rope in the first scene and it means nothing. By the end, those items suddenly have meaning.
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