Santa Barbara

photo still from film

RAW MATERIAL at 27th SBIFF, 2012! 

One of the documentaries highest on my list in the past year is the film, RAW MATERIAL (Greece, 2011) by director Christos Karakepelis. This documentary left me with chills, not only because of its raw subject about the declining Greek economy but the worsening of the situation of immigrants to Greece and the inhumane lives they lead.

When we follow the lives of three Roma from Albania, two Indians, a Turk and a Greek who subsist on the collecting of refuse and recycling who live in shanty towns that resemble slums of the lowest developed countries, it is hard to imagine this is life for thousands in Western Europe. This is very much a reality we must all face, as the wellbeing of these people reflects everyone’s. Where in ancient history peasants roamed these lands domesticating animals and tilling the fields, today the poor now live off the raw material waste of discarded metals (washing machines, microwaves, computers, cell phones, factory machines- a hell of our raw material waste en masse).

While many would like to turn a blind eye to the desperate situation of the poor in Europe (and in the rest of the world for that matter), can we ignore this any longer? Is this their problem or ours? If western society is like a pyramid, the bottom of which holds the top up, then that means contemporary Europe (and everywhere) is built over a pile of raw material refuse. This is not a problem of the poor. This is everyone’s problem and it’s time to wake up, pay attention and make a change. For me, RAW MATERIAL is not only an important poignant must see film but beautifully made and a living symbol of where we are headed and what we are doing to ourselves and our planet.

Read below what Christos said to my questions in regards to his film in an interview about Raw Material.

http://www.fest21.com/en/blog/vanessa_mcmahon/raw_material_interview_wit...