Discover Far From The Spotlight, the film by Jérémie Battaglia co-produced by VEJA and La Blogothèque,
which celebrates the people who make our sneakers.
Premiere screening
December 2nd, at 7 PM
Grand Rex Cinema, Paris
In 2023, VEJA gave La Blogothèque carte blanche to shed light on what usually goes unseen: the life and work of the people making the VEJA sneakers.
After two years of work, the result is a documentary about the reality of those who, every day, grow, produce, collect, and transform the raw materials that bring our sneakers to life.
“It’s the first time in 20 years that we truly document, through film, what’s happening in Brazil. There’s no way we’d fall into some kind of corporate, textbook, or too-polished communication. So, we came up with a cultural UFO.”
– Sébastien Kopp, co-founder of VEJA
At the core of VEJA’s principles lies transparency. Since 2005, we’ve committed to telling it all, writing it all down, from our achievements to our limitations, with no filter. Still, it can be difficult for people to realize the work that is done in the field in Brazil, from sourcing to the collection of raw materials. Nobody really understands what it means to use wild Amazonian rubber, to produce organic cotton, or to transform plastic bottles into an ecological fabric.
That’s why, in 2023, VEJA gave full creative freedom to La Blogothèque. Led by Christophe “Chryde” Abric, the French collective is more used to working with musical artists than with brands. We decided to send a team directly where it all happens: at the heart of the communities that work to make VEJA sneakers come to life. Fully immersed, the crew began to understand every step of an intricate ecosystem.
At the heart of the project, a 30-minute ensemble film by Jérémie Battaglia. In Far From The Spotlight, the Franco-Canadian director paints four unvarnished portraits: Richard, a factory foreman; Irisnete, a rubber tapper harvesting latex in the Amazon; Osvaldo, whose family has grown cotton for generations; and Luênia, who runs several cooperatives of catadores (waste pickers).
Open up in front of the camera, they share their emotions, sometimes painful pasts, ambitions, and hopes for the future. In their own ways, separated by thousands of kilometers, these individuals tell the story of a complex land: its disparities, but also the invisible ties that bind it together.
DISCOVER THE TRAILER BELOW