Traders' Dreams

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An investigative probe into the lives of self-made entrepreneurs reveals an entertaining exposition of the relationship between the alluring world of virtual commerce and individual dreams and obsessions. In places, filmmakers Tolz and Vetter depict the traders’ gambles on eBay with devastating sensitivity. Raw footage evokes a familiarity which draws us into the lives of a community on the Isle of Skye, Scotland, where hopes of success are ignited and locals begin to succumb to the mantra at the heart of eBay’s promise to ‘empower’ the people.

The Thrum family from Germany, are even more desperately driven to the temptation of eBay in the face of the entire family’s unemployment. Panoramic sweeps cross continents to visually mimic the global mushroom cloud of eBay’s influential realm. Frames flick between a vulnerable Mexican outpost where local potters are being swindled by a profit-obsessed eBay trader, to the imposing architecture of mainland China.

Here, enterprising businessman Jack Ma unveils his strategy for prising away the fingers of eBay’s iron grasp on this free market phenomenon and boldly establishes his own company as prime competitor to eBay’s hold on China’s virtual commercialism. But as the filmmakers begin to unpick the surreal layers of eBay’s tapestry of followers, Ma’s quiet confidence becomes an unsettling parody of the maniacal arrogance of the eBay team. A convention to mark the 10th anniversary of eBay, smacks of the wildly delusional quality of propaganda rallies.

The darkly comic fervour of the world of global commerce begins to transmit to the isolated individual on the fringes of eBay’s territory. Pummelled by branding and promises, the two worlds intertwine to weave together the threads of eBay’s empire; but will the traders’ dreams be realised in a system which pledges to bring everyone success?