By Rodrigo Brandao
The Brazil/UK co-production Waste Land (2009), a documentary focused on the relationship between Brazilian art star Vik Muniz and garbage pickers in the world’s largest landfill in Rio de Janeiro, won the Audience Award (in the World Cinema Doc category) on January 30, 2010, at the Sundance Film Festival.
Vik Muniz in the Sundance Winner film Waste Land (2009)
Described by Sundance as an “uplifting feature documentary highlighting the transformative power of art and the beauty of the human spirit,” Waste Land follows the Brooklyn-based (and Brazilian-born) artist travel back to his homeland and make portraits of the local “catadores” (i.e. garbage pickers) in Jardim Gramacho, located on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro. Muniz traveled to Rio with the intention of using using trash collected on site as source material for his portraits, continuing his larger project of using trash as both source and inspiration for his art.
But as described by those who have seen the film, Waste Land turns out to be much more than a simple document of one’s artistic process. As widely reported, the end product is actually an examination of the collaboration between Muniz and his fellow recyclers, and not a one-sided character portrait.
Irma Portrait
The synopses made available by the Sundance Film Festival expands: “[Muniz] collaborates with an eclectic band of catadores, or self-designated pickers of recyclable materials, and photographs these inspiring characters as they recycle their lives and society’s garbage. [Director Lucy] Walker gains fantastic access to the entire process.”
A more detailed description of the film can be found at a recently published Variety review of the film (click here). But based on Muniz’ already established (and internationally renowned) work with recycled trash, as seen in his photo series “Bulfinch’s Recycling Yard,“, and on Lucy Walker’s strong documentary work, you can probably expect Waste Land (2009) to open at an art house theater near – sometime later this year. The film is set to be screened at the upcoming Berlinale, in the festival’s Panorama section.
The video below offers a peak into Vik Muniz’s work with trash and recycled materials.
And take a look at the trailer of Lucy walker’s previous film, Bilndsight:
