WASTE LAND

Year: 2010
USA: Arthouse Films
UK: Entertainment One UK
Cast: Vik Muniz
Director: Lucy Walker
Countries: UK / Brazil
USA & UK: 99 mins
UK Certificate: PG contains mild language and references to sex and drugs
USA Release Date: 29 October 2010 (Limited Release - New York)
UK Release Date: 25 February 2011 (Limited Release)


Synopsis

WASTE LAND follows celebrated artist Vik Muniz as he travels from his home in Brooklyn to his native Brazil and heads for the world’s largest garbage dump, Jardim Gramacho, which is situated on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro.

A project that lasts for nearly three years, he films an eclectic band of ‘catadores’ â€" or self-designated pickers of recyclable materials. Muniz’s collaboration with these inspiring characters as they recreate photographic images of themselves out of garbage reveals both dignity and despair as the catadores begin to re-imagine their lives.

The film offers stirring evidence of the transformative power of art and the alchemy of the human spirit.