Festival Films A-Z

Lemme Film GmbH
Kathrin Lemme, Michael Weihrauch
Grabbestraße 6
22765 Hamburg
Deutschland
Tel.: +49 40 413 594 04
Fax: +49 40 413 594 05
E-Mail: info@lemmefilm.de

Shaheen Dill-Riaz

Andreas Zitzmann

Telepool München
Amelie v. Kienlin
Sonnenstrasse 21
80331  München
Tel.: +49 89 55876 210
email: kienlin@telepool.de

Synopsis

In this film, director Shaheen Dill-Riaz uses his birth town Chittagong, in the south of Bangladesh, as an example to illustrate the consequences of globalisation. Today, its beach is the final destination for hundreds of ocean vessels which have had their day -- giant old cargo ships, tankers, and containers from all over the world which need to be dismantled and recycled. Many of the metal-wares produced in Bangladesh are manufactured from this recycled refuse of civilisation. However, the dismantling is not carried out in high-tech shipyards with the help of heavy machinery: the ships are dismantled by hand down to the last screw.

With intense, clear cinematography, the film conducts the viewer into unbelievable scenery. An army of heavily-working 'iron eaters' with blowtorches are working on the colossal wrecks. The viewer sees them dragging steel cables through the mud, welding, hauling and hammering, and turning entire ships into scrap metal.

The annual famine in the north of Bangladesh forces the farmers Kholil, Gadu, and their relatives to leave their homes and find jobs as seasonal workers in one of these ship-breaking factories. Like thousands of others, they become the victims of an exploitation which only few end up escaping, since not only do the shipbreakers carry out incredibly dangerous work, they also knowingly accumulate debts which trap them and allow former fishermen become rich business people.

"It's not only the work procedure which makes this world so unique, but also the admirable strength of the workers. Superhuman figures with primitive tools recycling everything to the very last screw stand before the refuse of civilisation. It is exhausting, dangerous and basically impossible work. And yet they manage to do it and have been doing so for years." (Shaheen Dill-Riaz)

Biography

Sand und Wasser (2001), Die glücklichsten Menschen der Welt (2004), Eisenfresser (2007)

Filmography

Sand und Wasser (2001), Die glücklichsten Menschen der Welt (2004), Eisenfresser (2007)

Dates

06	01.10.2007	21:15	Filmhaus
23	03.10.2007	18:45	Kommkino