When Laura Carreira left her native Portugal at 18, she arrived in Scotland to study film at Edinburgh University. But it was her ‘make ends meet’ job, working in the café at Jenners department store on Princes Street, that would prove her biggest education. ‘Those first years I was mainly interacting with other migrants; all my colleagues were Spanish, Polish, Slovenian, very mixed,’ she recalls, when we meet at the San Sebastián Film Festival, where her debut feature On Falling has just played.

This Scottish-set drama about a ‘picker’ in a fulfilment centre (those giant warehouses operated by online retail giants such as Amazon) very much draws from her early working life, and the conversations she had with fellow migrants. Already, this quietly devastating look at the gig economy has been steadily winning prizes, including the Sutherland Award for best directorial debut at the London Film Festival. But it will feel particularly special for Carreira when On Falling receives its Scottish premiere at the Glasgow Film Festival. ‘I’ve always felt very welcome in Scotland,’ she smiles.

Having investigated the world of work in her shorts, such as the award-winning Red Hill (2018) and The Shift (2020), Carreira began writing On Falling during the pandemic. ‘We were so dependent on that type of work,’ she explains, noting how pickers ‘were considered essential workers at the time.’ And yet as Carreira discovered, they endure poor working conditions. ‘A lot of people talked about how lonely the job was, and how physically demanding, but also how psychologically tough. It was really hard to be on your own for ten hours. A lot weren’t allowed to even listen to things on headphones.’

Carreira fed her findings into On Falling, which follows Aurora (Joana Santos) as she struggles with the soulless nature of her minimum-wage job, relentlessly readying goods for dispatch, and the financially precarious position it leaves her in. Often, it’s the details that really bite, like the moment where management offer confectionery to the best-performing worker. ‘There were pickers who would tell me that on the days you do well, you get rewarded with a chocolate bar,’ says Carreira. ‘And they obviously thought how insulting that is.’

Smartly, Carreira doesn’t single out the employers as evil. ‘Part of me didn’t want it to just be about a bad job and a bad company. Because some of the pickers I spoke to didn’t have an anger towards the company. It was more insidious and more endemic than that. It’s not just one company that’s doing this. These dynamics of power between boss and employee exist in any job. And I would ask them “are you looking for other jobs? Are you trying?” And some felt like they were too tired to do it. They had no energy to fight at that point.’

For the most part, On Falling taps into wider concerns that anyone from any country can relate to. ‘I think it shows how these struggles are actually pretty universal.’ Shot in Glasgow, with the production using several warehouses to replicate Aurora’s place of work, Carreira felt comfortable shooting in her adopted home. ‘I’ve always filmed in Scotland. If anything, I don’t know what it’s like to film in Portugal!’ she says, promising that one day she plans to make a film in her homeland. 

The film inevitably draws comparisons to Ken Loach’s Sorry We Missed You, which detailed the gradual emotional wear-and-tear heaped on a delivery driver working for an Amazon-like company. ‘For a while I was a little concerned,’ admits Carreira, who had begun writing On Falling when the subject of Loach’s film was announced. The differences are pronounced enough even if they can be considered spiritual cousins, both perfect examples of the sort of cinematic social realism that Loach is famed for.

Furthering the close ties, On Falling was produced by Sixteen Films, the company behind many of Loach’s movies. ‘I already knew their work even before I moved to Scotland. When I decided to send this script to Sixteen Films, it was quite a moment for me. And I was a little starstruck: “oh my god, they’re gonna read my work!”’ Eventually, the company wrote back with a letter of interest, stating they were keen to work with Carreira. ‘And I was like “I’m gonna frame that!”’ Who can blame her? 

On Falling screens at GFT, Glasgow on Friday 28 February and Saturday 1 March; general release on Friday 7 March.