Across Europe’s fields—from sun-drenched groves in Italy to wind-swept vineyards in Greece—The Pickers brings us face to face with the migrant harvesters whose hands bring our fruit and veg to the table.
Synopsis
Across Europe’s fields—from sun-drenched groves in Italy to wind-swept vineyards in Greece—The Pickers brings us face to face with the migrant harvesters whose hands bring our fruit and veg to the table.
Without contracts, safety, or fair pay, Seydou, Bahija, Kirti, and others navigate precarious lives. Through their voices, we uncover the human cost of our year-round produce: homes sacrificed, bodies worn, traditions fading. From dawn pickups to moonlit harvests, the film moves with a rhythm, each row of produce carrying stories often left unseen.
But alongside this hardship, activists like Pape in southern Italy breathe hope into fields, pioneering ethical farms and the FAIR PICK campaign: a call for justice, dignity, and sustainable bounty.
With perceptive observation, The Pickers unearths the human cost beneath every supermarket aisle and invites us to imagine a food system where care, not cost, defines our harvest.
Director: Elke Sasse | Country: Germany | Year: 2024 | Running Time: 80 min | Language: English, and Greek, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Arabic, Bambara, and Urdu with English subtitles | Rating: 12A | Content guidance: contains reference to sexual harassment
Screenings: Film & Campaign Ltd
Screening Details
- Festival Screening: 13 September 2025
- Festival Guests: Meet The Pickers campaign producer Ben Kempas
Trailer
About the filmmaker:
Elke Sasse is an award-winning documentary filmmaker whose work reveals global connections through intimate, character-driven stories. From garlic farmers in China to dancehall pensioners in Berlin to refugees documenting their journeys via mobile phones, her films spotlight overlooked voices. Her credits include #MyEscape (Prix Europa 2016), Tomatoes and Greed, Oil Promises, and The War on My Phone. Whether on a Ukrainian village bench (Babske Radio) or tracing global Berlins (Worldwide Berlins), Sasse finds the extraordinary in the everyday and brings urgent issues to vivid life.