As an American who consumes copious amounts of everything, my reaction initially to Garbage Dreams was 'why wasn't there this type of turnout for Blood Trail?' Both films premiered in the same theatre at the Austin Convention Center, the former was packed while the latter maybe filled half of the makeshift venue, but still had a solid and interested audience. Both films are worldly and touch on pertinent, controversial, and debatable topics.
SXSW being a worldly and slightly inclusive event, I would expect the same amount of film enthusiasts to show up in droves for a fascinating study of the human psyche with war being the main catalyst for transformation and progression. Especially since most festival goers lived through all the wars touched upon in Blood Trail, and have seen Robert King's revealingly graphic images and pictures. But this was not the case, and having lived through 3 overt wars myself that the U.S. was involved, I had to ask myself why?
Escapism is Western 'civilization's' favorite past time and we don't want to be reminded of what is right at the helm of importance, parting through menageries of carcasses and disheveled proxy casualties while hemorrhaging barbarism and death is not good entertainment, yes I agree. Boosting recycling education is important, and marginalized yet obscure trades are interesting I am extremely surprised at where interests lie in the documentary film world.
Keep in mind; I am not taking anything away from Garbage Dreams it is a wonderful and heartfelt film. I can't help but comment on my observations, and I am more editorializing the film priorities of the attendees of SXSW Film representing a microcosm of film watchers and critics. Now I will get to the Zabbaleen and Garbage Dreams.
The film is set in Cairo, Egypt, one of the largest cities in the world, and Cairo had no across the board waste management system during the making of this film. The Zabbaleen (garbage people) are a small group of citizens who are at the bottom wrung of Cairo's social hierarchy (nothing class), and these 60,000 or so persons collect all the trash from the rest of the citizens of Cairo personally. They take all the trash back to their ghetto on the outskirts of the city to be sorted, reused, and then reprocessed in to raw reusable goods to be sold to other countries as raw products. The Zabbaleen recycle 80% of the trash of their fellow citizens and themselves while, at the most and only in the most 'progressive' circumstances, western countries recycle 20% of their waste. The Zabbaleen are born into their trade, and are now being marginalized by multi-national trash managers. Their way of life is disappearing, as is their identity, however humble it may be, and Garbage Dreams follows three teenagers on the brink of manhood and magnifies their struggles to identify themselves in their rapidly changing society.
Director and cinematographer by trade Mai Iskander is half Egyptian and the 4 years she took making the film shows, it is visually stunning, with beautiful shots of Cairo, and visceral emotion is captured through the many hours she spent with her subject's. The pain and joy she could not have captured without hours and hours of footage to choose from. Even the footage of huge trash piles, daily routines of the Zabbaleen, and their dwelling's are aesthetically pleasing in an odd and fascinating voyeuristic chronology. Iskander really brings her audience into her subject's homes, hopes, hazards, and triumphs.
Osama was the most engaging and torn subject, he displayed all the angst of a teenager trying to escape everything he lived in and saw around him. His large smile, intelligent observations, and candid demeanor made me want to meet and converse with this young man. Nabil was the more reserved, slightly brooding and artistic of the three, but with a more stable home life, or so it seemed. Adham was Iskander's main focus and the film really gives the appearance that you see everything he goes through over its filming. Adham was proudly and courageously at the premiere, sharing the Q&A with Iskander and answering inquiries with the assistance of a translator.
Adham did all the translation for Garbage Dreams, working extremely hard. He began the Q&A with an impressive introduction in English, evoking thunderous applause from the audience. "I am very happy to be here with you. I am very happy to be in the United States to share some of my experience in recycling ... ," and this is how he began his humble introduction, thanking his audience, that was really phenomenal. When asked by an audience member what he thought of the recycling system here in the U.S. he said this, " ... it's a great idea and I really liked it a lot, you guys actually separate the garbage at home ..." It seems he was being polite because earlier in the film him and Nabil visited a recycling plant in Wales and he stated that "here there is technology, but no precision," the plant was not unlike what The City of Austin has now implemented with their upgraded streamlined recycling program.
In closing Adham said, " ... I used to be ashamed of our job as Zabbaleen. Proportionally in Egypt people did not appreciate the work that the Zabbaleen did, actually people used the word Zabbaleen as an insult, but after I attended the recycling school, after I learned how to read and write, I also learned computers, I learned health care, health and hygiene, I became very proud of my profession as a Zabbaleen. I realized that my profession was as important as a doctor's job, as an engineer, pharmacist. If a president leaves the country or you know is sick for a few days, everything will continue as usual, but if the Zabbaleen do not collect the garbage every single day cities will stink."
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