cairo

11 Free Garbage Dreams Screening Events This Week

Nabil, 18 years old, one of the teenage boys featured in Garbage Dreams

Our January Community Cinema selection, Garbage Dreams, asks you to think very deeply about garbage (and recycling it). Cairo, Egypt’s Zabaleen are mostly Coptic Christians who provide garbage collection cheaply or for free, making a living by sorting through the trash they collect, and selling the metal, plastic, paper, glass, and other materials to recyclers. Some items are set aside for repair and reuse; food waste is given to the pigs and goats.

The Zaballeen live on the outskirts of Cairo, in Mokattam, the main

setting for GARBAGE DREAMS. The garbage is collected by the men,

and brought here where it is piled into large open rooms or sheds and

sorted by the women and children. Families tend to specialize in sorting

certain types of materials, such as glass or paper, and particular families

take charge of preparing that material for recycling. It is estimated that

the Zaballeen recycle about 80 percent of the solid waste they collect.

The Zaballeen live on the outskirts of Cairo, in Mokattam, the main setting for Garbage Dreams. The garbage is collected by the men, and brought here where it is piled into large open rooms or sheds and sorted by the women and children. Families tend to specialize in sorting certain types of materials, such as glass or paper, and particular families take charge of preparing that material for recycling. It is estimated that the Zaballeen recycle about 80 percent of the solid waste they collect.

Don’t miss your chance to see Garbage Dreams this week at a free community screening event near you!

Grand Junction, Colorado
Tuesday, January 12, 2010 at 6:00 PM
Mesa County Libraries, Central Library
530 Grand Ave.

Hayward, California
Tuesday, January 12, 2010 at 6:00 PM
Hayward Public Library Main Library
835 C Street
Hayward, CA 94541

Tucson, Arizona
Wednesday, January 13, 2010 at 6:00 PM
Joel D. Valdez Main Library
101 N. Stone Ave.
Tucson, AZ 85701
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Tags: cairo, free, garbage dreams, recycling

Monday, January 11th, 2010 events View Comments

In January Community Cinema Asks You To Consider Recycling… Everything

In January 2010, Community Cinema starts the new year by asking you to consider recycling, well… everything you use. Don’t worry! Our documentary selection – an award winning festival hit – GARBAGE DREAMS will help you learn recycling secrets from some of the best recyclers on the planet. Meet Cairo’s Zaballeen.

Find your free event, and join us for the film and so much more. Welcome to the world’s largest garbage village located on the outskirts of Cairo, Egypt. The Zaballeen (Arabic for garbage people) recycle 80 percent of the trash they collect—far more than other recycling initiatives around the globe. But now a multi-national corporation threatens their livelihood. Follow three teenage boys born into the recycling business who are forced to make choices that will impact the survival of their community and could also help the rest of the world figure out what to do with its waste. Local Community Cinema events will look into recycling options on the municipal level as well as connect with independent organizations seeking creative and innovative solutions to our trash troubles. GARBAGE DREAMS is director Mai Iskander’s first feature film, and is on the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ 15-film shortlist for feature docs at this year’s Oscars (source: Hollywood Reporter).

The Recycling School from GARBAGE DREAMS

Our national partners create unique ways for audiences to learn more about recycling, sustainability and environmental education. Global Alliance For Incinerator Alternatives is a worldwide alliance of more than 500 grassroots groups, non-governmental organizations, and individuals in over 80 countries whose ultimate vision is a just, toxic-free world without incineration. The Cloud Institute works to ensure that innovative curricula is available to educators in the K-12 school systems to prepare young people for the shift toward a sustainable future. Working Films leverages the power of storytelling through documentary film to advance struggles for social, economic, and environmental justice, human and civil rights.

Austria is the leading recycler in the European Union with about 60 percent of waste products being recycled. The United States recycles about 32 percent of its waste. At the Beijing dump, scavengers earn three times the monthly salary of college professors. Scavengers in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico earn three times the minimum wage, putting them in the top 5 percent of income earners in that city.

Learn more interesting facts and consider some of the challenging questions or activities in our Discussion Guide (PDF, 2.5M). [Consider not printing the discussion guide. You can view PDF documents on your computer, laptop, Palm, Blackberry, iPhone, or other smart device.] Then join us at one of our free preview events for GARBAGE DREAMS and bring your questions for our panel of experts. Our first event is tomorrow January 2, 2010 at the Saratoga Springs Public Library, 49 Henry Street at 3PM. There are over 30 events scheduled so far with more being added every day.

In this clip below from SXSW, Mai Iskander (the film’s director) and one of the film’s young subjects go through an American trash dumpster looking for answers to the common exclamation, “That’s not recyclable! Is it?!”

Our Twitter feed tweets up-to-date event info daily in 140 characters or less. Follow our feed for all the latest. Join the discussion on our Facebook Fan Page for a more in depth preview of events and a place to discuss the issues raised by our challenging films.