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Waste Land
Waste Land
7.8
/10
727 Ratings

WASTE LAND

Directed by Lucy Walker, João Jardim, Karen Harley
Brazil, United Kingdom, 2010
Documentary

Synopsis

Vik Muniz travels from Brooklyn to his native Brazil and the world’s largest garbage dump, Jardim Gramacho. There he photographs the “catadores”—self-designated pickers of recyclable materials. The collaboration reveals both the dignity and despair of the catadores as they re-imagine their lives.

Synopsis

Vik Muniz travels from Brooklyn to his native Brazil and the world’s largest garbage dump, Jardim Gramacho. There he photographs the “catadores”—self-designated pickers of recyclable materials. The collaboration reveals both the dignity and despair of the catadores as they re-imagine their lives.

Our take

The story not of the world’s largest landfill—though Rio’s Jardim Gramacho is the setting—but rather that of those who make a living from picking its garbage. Through the work of artist Vik Muniz we find a vital portrait of the people on the margins whose lives are made from what we leave behind.