Kaplan combines documentary and fictional elements to build a deep portrait of these workers, highlighting their resilience and the urgency of making their work visible and dignified. Invisibility Treaty invites us to reflect on the importance of recognizing and improving the conditions of those who, day after day, keep our city clean.
“Also, upon investigating further, I realized how invisible they are. Not only because of labor policies or companies that do not take them into account, but also because of how we perceive them as a society. There’s a kind of implicit idea that spaces clean themselves, as if these people don’t exist. It is something that is reflected in small everyday gestures, such as throwing garbage in front of them or ignoring them completely. The title, Invisibility Treatyarises precisely from this reflection. It is a compendium of the multiple ways in which we make them invisible, whether consciously or unconsciously, and seeks to be a study and critique of this reality,” explains Kaplan.
Kaplan began filming Invisibility Treaty in 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, a context that accentuated labor and social inequalities. The director says that the idea for the project arose from observing how cleaning work, essential for urban life, continued to be ignored and poorly paid, even at a critical moment where hygiene took on an unprecedented role.
“There are more women working in cleaning, and many are single mothers or heads of families. This puts them in a situation where employers feel they can abuse them more because they need the job urgently. This leads to abusive labor practices, such as unjustified deductions from their salaries, lack of benefits, or even being forced to pay for their own uniforms. Additionally, they face constant harassment, especially in places like the subway. Several women told me that they have to beware of bosses and supervisors because harassment is systematic. If they don’t budge, they may face retaliation such as heavier work assignments or arbitrary deductions. This adds to an already precarious employment situation: low salaries, non-existent contracts and endless days, since many arrive home and continue with care tasks,” explains the director.
An impact campaign with the hashtag #NoSoyInvisible
Invisibility rating It starts from a fundamental premise: recognizing who cleans our cities. This work, essential for the daily functioning of urban spaces, falls mainly on women whose efforts are essential to prevent cities from collapsing under the accumulation of garbage. However, their work is often devalued or, worse still, ignored, perpetuating a perception of invisibility towards these workers.
The film not only seeks to give them a face and voice, but also to change the collective mentality by generating empathy, opening debates and making visible the job insecurity they face. To achieve this, those responsible for the documentary have launched an impact campaign with the hashtag #IamInvisiblewhich includes various specific actions. These include collaboration with NGOs, training workshops on labor rights aimed at female workers, and meetings with legislators in the Chamber of Deputies to promote fairer policies.
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