Among many of the reasons I wanted to attend SXSW, was the premiere of Garbage Dreams, a documentary about teenage garbage recyclers of Egypt. I am hopeful that this documentary will be successful and I will be able to view it in my state. {Yes, I would travel almost anywhere in Florida to view it.}
Filmed over four years, Garbage Dreams follows three teenage boys- Adham, a bright precocious 17-year-old; Osama, a charming impish 16-year-old; Nabil, a shy artistic 18-year-old-born into trash trade and growing up in the world's largest garbage village, a ghetto located on the outskirts of Cairo. It is a world folded onto itself, an impenetrable labyrinth of narrow roadways camouflaged by trash; it is home to 60,000 Zaballeen (or Zabbaleen), Egypt's "garbage people."
For generation's, the residents of Cairo have depended on the Zaballeen to collect their trash, paying them only a minimal amount for their garbage collection services. The Zaballeen survive by recycling the city's waste. These entrepreneurial garbage workers recycle 80% of all the garbage they collect, creating what is arguably the world's most efficient waste disposal system.
When the city they keep clean suddenly decides to replace the Zaballeen with multinational garbage disposal companies, the Zaballeen community finds itself at a crossroads. Face to face with the globalization of their trade, each of the teenage boys is forced to make choices that will impact his future and the survival of his community.
Please support this film in any way you can. Thanks!
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