On Falling: Edinburgh director Laura Carreira cast real workers in powerful debut film about Scottish warehouse

If you’ve ever ordered a product online and wondered exactly how it all works behind the scenes, a new film set in Scotland peels back the curtain on the real human cost of convenience shopping.

On Falling, the first feature film from Edinburgh-based Portuguese director Laura Carreira, depicts the harsh reality of what life is like for those working within mega distribution centres in the country.

The film follows Aurora (Joana Santos), a Portuguese migrant working as a picker in a vast Scottish warehouse as she struggles within the confines of her life there and her social isolation at home.

Speaking with The Scotsman last year Carreira shared that while writing On Falling she brought some of her own feelings of financial insecurity and alienation to the film.

Edinburgh-based director Laura Carreira's debut feature film On Falling follows warehouse workers in Scotland. | Cro & Kow

She said: “I was really interested in our relationship to work, how we define ourselves through it and how it feels to live today. It was important to me to try to bring them into the film. It was almost like trying to put together a web of ideas and thoughts to see if they made something bigger at the end.

“I wanted to convey the feelings I had during those first few years living in Edinburgh. There were little things I carried with me that I ended up bringing to the film.”

Street casting gave On Falling its strong sense of realism

Receiving praise from anti-poverty charities such as the Trussell Trust for its depiction of what life is like for those living on the breadline, Carreira credits her casting decisions for the film’s sense of realism.

While she did draw on some of her own lived experience, Carreira carried out extensive research on what working in an environment such as a distribution centre was like. Part of this involved touring facilities such as Amazon’s Dunfermline facility, as well as interviewing people who worked there.

Joana Santos as Aurora in On Falling. | Sixteen Films

“As soon I started writing the script, I started telling everyone I knew that I was looking to speak to warehouse pickers. I spoke to a lot of them and those conversations influenced the film a lot.”

As a result, when it came to casting the director chose to cast non-professional actors for the film, many of whom had experience working in fulfilment centres.

Carreira explained: “We held an open call and simply asked people to talk about themselves. The result felt so natural, everyone just played themselves in that situation.

“You see people from all walks of life: both a clown, a former gardener, a nurse and a truck driver played characters in the film. That diversity brought so much depth.”

In addition to street casting, Carreira gave those cast the opportunity to improvise and adjust elements of the script throughout the production.

“Much of my writing process involved speaking with fulfilment centre workers about their routines and lives, which greatly influenced the film. Loneliness emerged as a recurring theme, both at work and beyond.

“Many expected the job to be physically demanding but were unprepared for its impact on their mental health. It was also clear how difficult it was to maintain a life outside work, with many too exhausted to do anything after their shifts.”

Carreira was interested not just in crafting a universe that would make sense for audiences, but one that would truly reflect reality for workers in fulfillment centres.

“We progressed pickers in the casting process as they had lived it, so they were the best people to tell the story. Others only realised they were pickers when they read the script and said, ‘Oh yeah, I do this job.’

On Falling follows a Portuguese migrant working as a picker in an Edinburgh distribution centre. | Sixteen Films

“If what I had written didn’t make sense to someone with first-hand experience, I’d let them deconstruct it and create their own character.

“As a result, the characters feel far more realistic and diverse, it doesn’t just sound like my voice.”

She added: “This is reality, and that needed to come across in the film. While I can speak to the experience of being a migrant worker in a new country, I didn’t want it to feel like it was only my voice.

“I believe a good film creates a universe for its characters to live in, and you need a range of voices to be heard, especially when tackling issues like wage slavery, exhaustion, poverty, and isolation.”

On Falling was produced by Sixteen Films, a company which was co-founded by social realist filmmaker Ken Loach, and filmed across Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Film highlights reality of poverty

In showcasing Aurora’s precarious position as someone employed but one unexpected expense away from disaster, On Falling builds a world that is unfortunately familiar to many around the country.

Between April 2023 and March 2024, Trussell Trust food banks distributed 262,400 emergency food parcels around Scotland - a figure similar to the previous year’s record highs.

The Trussell Trust’s chief network officer Danni Malone has praised the film for its “powerful depiction” of how delicate life can be for those balancing on the breadline.

Malone said: “On Falling is a powerful depiction of just how precarious things are when you’re only just earning enough to scrape by – a story that’s painfully familiar to food banks across the UK.

On Falling is Edinburgh-based filmmaker Laura Carreira's debut feature film. | Sixteen Films

“Like Aurora, many people can’t afford to eat, keep warm and pay the bills because their work is insecure, or their pay packets aren’t enough to live on. 1 in 5 people who need a food bank are working. Many people also have health conditions or need to look after relatives and children, and the support that should be there for people who are in-between jobs isn’t enough to cover the cost of the essentials either.

“No one should be in a situation like Aurora’s, and we can change this.”

Part of the Trussell Trust’s work is to end the need for food banks, with Malone calling on the public to contribute to that change.

She added: “Together, we can update our social security system ensuring everyone can afford the essentials we all need; we can make sure there’s easy access to mental health support and we can put support for disabled people, carers and people with health conditions in place.”

On Falling has its Scottish premiere at Glasgow Film Festival on Friday, February 28. It will open in selected cinemas across the UK and Ireland on Friday, March 7.