Screen
Poster

Waste Land

99 minutes 2010 7.8

This fascinating Oscar-nominated film follows the famous Brazilian artist Vik Muniz in his immortalization of people working on the largest landfill in the world, Jardim Gramacho, on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. Here he photographs the "catadors" who pick and sort recyclable waste. He puts them in symbol-laden situations in the pictures - which are later turned into huge collages in collaboration with the workers and with the help of the materials from the heap. The hope is to reach out to the art world and sell the pictures so that the income can be returned to the waste sorters themselves.

Waste Land won the audience award in both Sundance and Berlin, and was also nominated for an Oscar for best documentary. Lucy Walker and his co-directors have followed Muniz in his work over a three-year period. The result is nothing short of amazing and unique.

The film is not playable outside of Norway