''Waste Land'' is a 2010 British-Brazilian

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

directed by Lucy Walker. The film chronicles artist

Vik Muniz Vik Muniz (; born 1961) is a Brazilian artist and photographer. Initially a sculptor, Muniz grew interested with the photographic representations of his work, eventually focusing completely on photography. Primarily working with unconventional ma ...

, who travels to the world's largest

landfill A landfill site, also known as a tip, dump, rubbish dump, garbage dump, or dumping ground, is a site for the disposal of waste materials. Landfill is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal, although the systematic burial of the waste ...

Jardim Gramacho Jardim Gramacho (Gramacho Gardens in English) is a neighborhood in the city of Duque de Caxias and the state of Rio de Janeiro. Landfill Jardim Gramacho was the site of one of the largest landfills in the world. It closed in June 2012 after 34 ...

outside

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

, to collaborate with a lively group of catadores of recyclable materials, who find a way to the most prestigious auction house in London via the surprising transformation of refuse into contemporary art. The catadores work in a co-operative founded and led by Sebastião Carlos Dos Santos, the ACAMJG, or Association of Pickers of Jardim Gramacho, who dreamed of improving life for his community. The money created by the selling of the artworks was given back to the catadores and the ACAMJG, as well as the prize money from the film awards, to help the catadores and their community. The film premiered at the

2010 Sundance Film Festival The 26th annual Sundance Film Festival was held from January 21, 2010 until January 31, 2010 in Park City, Utah. Award winners *Grand Jury Prize: Documentary - '' Restrepo'' *Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic - ''Winter's Bone'' *World Cinema Jury Prize: ...

and went on to be nominated for the

Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...

, as well as win over 50 other film awards including the International Documentary Association's Best Documentary Award, which was handed to director Lucy Walker inside a garbage bag. The documentary was produced by Angus Aynsley and Hank Levine, executive produced by

Fernando Meirelles Fernando Ferreira Meirelles (; born 9 November 1955) is a Brazilian film director, producer and screenwriter. He is best known for co-directing the film '' City of God'', released in 2002 in Brazil and in 2003 in the U.S. by Miramax Films, which ...

, co-directed by João Jardim and Karen Harley, co-produced by Peter Martin, and photographed by Dudu Miranda. The music was created by

Moby Richard Melville Hall (born September 11, 1965), known professionally as Moby, is an American musician, songwriter, singer, producer, and animal rights activist. He has sold 20 million records worldwide. AllMusic considers him to be "among the ...

, who is a friend and frequent collaborator of Walker. The film was distributed by Arthouse Films in the US,

Entertainment One Entertainment One Ltd., trading as eOne, is an American-owned Canadian multinational entertainment company. Based in Toronto, Ontario, the company is primarily involved in the acquisition, distribution, and production of films and television se ...

in Canada,

Hopscotch Films Entertainment One Ltd., trading as eOne, is an American-owned Canadian multinational entertainment company. Based in Toronto, Ontario, the company is primarily involved in the acquisition, distribution, and production of films and television se ...

in Australia and New Zealand, and Midas Filmes in its native Portugal.

Reception

''Waste Land'' received unanimously positive reviews as "an uplifting portrait of the power of art and the dignity of the human spirit." On the

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

aggregator site, 100% of critics gave the film positive ("certified fresh") reviews, based on 71 reviews, and an average rating of 8.08/10, earning the film a Golden Tomato Award for the best-reviewed film of the year, and the only documentary to be 100% positively rated for that year. The website's critical consensus states, "''Waste Land'' begins with an eco-friendly premise, but quickly transforms into an uplifting portrait of the power of art and the dignity of the human spirit".It also has a score of 78 out of 100 on

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, based on 20 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". This film was invited to screen at festivals and special events around the world, and received over 50 awards.

International titles

The Portuguese-language title is ''Lixo Extraordinário'' literally meaning "extraordinary garbage", which is a pun referring to the labels on Brazilian sanitation trucks containing special waste. The Spanish-language title is El Reino de la Basura, literally "the kingdom of garbage". The French distributors Eurozoom chose to keep the English title "Waste Land" in France with the subtitle "de la Poubelle au Musée" (From the Trash to the Museum).

References

External links

* * *
''Waste Land''
at ''

Independent Lens ''Independent Lens'' is a weekly television series airing on PBS featuring documentary films made by independent filmmakers. Past seasons of ''Independent Lens'' were hosted by Angela Bassett, Don Cheadle, Susan Sarandon, Edie Falco, Terrence Ho ...

'' on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

*
''Waste Land''
at

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Waste Land 2010 documentary films 2010 films Brazilian documentary films British documentary films Documentary films about environmental issues Documentary films about photographers Duque de Caxias, Rio de Janeiro Films shot in Rio de Janeiro (state) Portuguese-language films Films directed by Lucy Walker 2010s British films

Reception

International titles

See also

References

External links