I saw this documentary at the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival. In addition to the June 20 release at Film Forum, it will be available on DVD and on PBS (in edited form, I suspect) in December. But this film deserves to be seen on the big screen at least initially. It is rated "G", so young people (13 - 17) may see it w/o an adult. In addition, Burtynsky's large format photos are on view currently at NYCs Charles Cole gallery, NYC. It includes a hefty section on both electronics manufacturing and dumping of electronic waste and its consequences.
trina Manufactured Landscapes (New York Premiere) Jennifer Baichwal, Canada, 2005, 87m, 35mm, doc In English Manufactured Landscapes is both a stunning portrait of Edward Burtynsky, internationally celebrated photographer who specializes in large-scale studies of industrial vistas, and an exploration of the aesthetics and social and spiritual dimensions of globalization around the world today. Acclaimed filmmaker, Jennifer Baichwal (Let it Come Down: The Life of Paul Bowles; The True Meaning of Pictures: Shelby Lee Adams’ Appalachia) follows Burtynsky to China and to Bangladesh, where he captures the effects of the massive industrial revolution those countries currently are undergoing. Baichwal focuses on the human cogs in the machine, contrasting Burtynsky's epic photographs with the tedium the workers endure and the sometimes toxic and alienating impact of globalization on the very people the transformations are supposed to benefit most. Beautifully shot and edited, and conceived with a startling awareness of the repercussions of our mania to control and repackage our environment, Manufactured Landscapes is a truly unsettling look at contemporary existence. *Winner Best Canadian Feature, Toronto International Film Festival. Manufactured Landscapes premieres theatrically at Film Forum on June 20. Here is a related article which discusses the consequences of pollution reflected in the above documentary; some of this is consequent on China becoming a dumping ground for electronics, including illegal "recycling" practices: China’s Toxic Grain By AngryToxicologist | April 30, 2007 http://angrytoxicologist.com/?p=22 _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.isoc-ny.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
