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MANUFACTURED LANDSCAPES is the striking new documentary on the world and work of renowned artist Edward Burtynsky. Internationally acclaimed for his large-scale photographs of “manufactured landscapes”—quarries, recycling yards, factories, mines and dams—Burtynsky creates stunningly beautiful art from civilization’s materials and debris.
A poetic and psychedelic journey, tracing flows of waste materials across species boundaries, in and out of hum/animal bodies through sites of scientific control. Oscillating between poetry, documentary, and reenactment, the film slips between the cracks of industrial spaces; below ground, across membranes, factory walls and into orifices and hidden worlds of work. The film is woven together by a series of poems performed by Logan February in which borrowed language accumulates. Sourced from different fields these lyrical experiments refer to fluid dynamics, spirituality, medical history, psychoanalysis and reproductive science.
A documentary following an Estonian fashion designer Reet Aus on a global tour to explore the origin process and the environmental footprints of today's fast paced fashion industry. On the road the mission takes an unexpected turn towards trying to introduce her "upcycling" inspired product line to some of the major fashion retailers to increase awareness of the massive resource waste built into the current product lifecycle.
What happens to the food we digest after it leaves our body? Is it waste that is thrown away or a resource that can be reused? In search of answers, director Rubén Abruña embarks on an investigative and entertaining search through 16 cities on four continents. He follows the trail of feces from the long sewers of Paris to a huge sewage treatment plant in Chicago.
Houcine is a 64-year-old rag and bone amongst hundreds of them in Casablanca and whose valuable work is almost invisible. The decision of the local authorities to abolish the carts drawn by animals threatens to wipe their livelihood in the name of the modernization of Casablanca which wants to be a "Smart City". The film follows Houcine's daily routine despite his multiple health concerns.
A group of five people with different backgrounds challenge themselves by driving 200 miles along Australia's east coast, using vegetable oil as fuel and their own food sourced from waste containers. Without money, but with great commitment, the trip will be a test of both the endurance of the travelers and the society, whose overproduction ends up in the waste pile. An adventure with dedicated "dumpster dive" experts Paul and Mykel as guides. On the trip they also take Nick from Scotland, Swedish student Sofia and Krystal who just have to get away from Brisbane for a while.
Exploring America’s consumption of computers and the hazardous waste we create in pursuit of the latest technology, Terra Blight traces the life cycle of computers from creation to disposal and juxtaposes the disparate worlds that have computers as their center. From a 13-year-old Ghanaian who smashes obsolete monitors to salvage copper to a 3,000-person video game party in Texas, Terra Blight examines the unseen realities of one of the most ubiquitous toxic wastes on our planet.
Gimme Green is a humorous look at the American obsession with the residential lawn and the effects it has on our environment, our wallets and our outlook on life. From the limitless subdivisions of Florida to sod farms in the arid southwest, Gimme Green peers behind the curtain of the $40-billion industry that fuels our nation's largest irrigated crop-the lawn.
Street Life documents the lives of Chinese migrants in Shanghai, one of the world’s largest and most vibrant cities, now symbolic of China’s economic might. The film centers on Nanjing Road, one of China’s oldest commercial streets and today a popular destination for tourists and moneyed Chinese. The street has also become a Mecca for uprooted and homeless Chinese, who make ends by collecting garbage and recyclables. These characters and their stories are the focus of the film. The central character in Street Life is a migrant known as “Black Skin.” Black Skin faces numerous pressures in the course of the film, including police violence. In the end, these pressures are too much for him to bear and he goes mad. Black Skin’s story intersects with those of fellow bottle collectors, enterprising thieves and even a young boy who has been abandoned.