The Swap (2016)
The Swap is the third chapter of the PolEc Trilogy, comprising Wandering Marxwards (1998) and The Three Failures (2006). It features the same character as in the previous episodes, but now reduced to a lost, exhausted soul roaming Shanghai's cityscape from the remotest periphery to the financial district. Another narrative, spoken this one, takes us to September 2008, as gigantic bailouts put the financial system on life support instead of letting it collapse, thus seizing our reality and replacing it with a fiction tailored for the situation. These two streams end up meeting on a Shanghai dancefloor, where unresolved contradictions can finally be performed.
Director: Michael Blum
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Michael Blum as Self |
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Bake He as Dancer |
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Cao Lu as Dancer |
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Cherry Wang as Dancer |
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Choi A Ran as Dancer |
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He Zhijie as Dancer |
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Jia Junjie as Dancer |
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Liu Huiling as Dancer |
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Qian Yunqiu as Dancer |
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Yangsu Ruyi as Dancer |
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Yang Yahang as Dancer |
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Zhang Wanying as Dancer |
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Zhu Er as Dancer |
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Zhu Li as Dancer |
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Sara Di Donato as Dancer |
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Paulina Przeniczna as Dancer |
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Yulina Semenova as Dancer |
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Paul Han as DJ |
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Scott Pelley as Self (voice) |
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Milton Friedman as Self (voice) |
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Ben Bernanke as Self (voice) |
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Joseph Stiglitz as Self (voice) |
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Slavoj Žižek as Self (voice) |
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Henry Waxman as Self (voice) |
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Saskia Sassen as Self (voice) |
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Phil Donahue as Self (voice) |
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Michael Bloomberg as Self (voice) |
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Margaret Thatcher as Self (voice) |
| Production | Sara Di Donato | Production Assistant |
| Writing | Michael Gilson | Script Editor |
| Production | Ray Qui | Production Assistant |
| Writing | Michael Blum | Writer |
| Editing | Carlotta Godio | Project Manager |
| Production | Paul Han | Production Assistant |
| Camera | Roberto Gianstefani | Steadicam Operator |
| Sound | Bruno Bélanger | Audio Post Coordinator |
| Production | Filippo Soevv | Production Assistant |
| Sound | Roberto Gianstefani | Sound Recordist |
| Art | Zhu Li | Location Scout |
| Production | Zhu Li | Production Assistant |
| Editing | Michael Blum | Editor |
| Camera | Roberto Gianstefani | Camera Operator |
| Crew | Zhu Li | Translator |
| Directing | Michael Blum | Director |
| Crew | Laura Novo | Post-Production Manager |