The Phantom of the Operator

A montage film crafted from Telephone Company movies that were produced in North America between 1910 and 1989. "The Phantom of the Operator" takes us on the trail of the telephone of operators. The operators were like shooting stars in a universe of infinite progress. Over one hundred industrial, advertising and educational productions - called ephemeral films - are at the origin of "The Phantom of the Operator". Despite being overlooked by cinema history, these artifacts shed light on the corporate, scientific and popular imaginations of the past century. Apparitions of countless women in the service of a communications system that has now consumed them altogether, perhaps these films also contain the very traces of their disappearance.