Cairo
The Garbage Dreams Game Nominated in 2nd Annual Games for Change Awards
The Games For Change Awards recognize excellence in games that address current, pressing social issues.
The Garbage Dreams Game, developed to complement the acclaimed Independent Lens documentary by Mai Iskander, received a nomination in the 2nd Annual Games for Change Awards in the Transmedia category. The awards recognize excellence in “games for change” that address current and pressing social issues and will be presented at the NYU Skirball Center on Wednesday, June 22 and streamed live.
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Celebrate Earth Day with a Social Screening of Garbage Dreams
The exclusive online screening will be held on Thursday, April 21 at 9PM EDT / 6PM PDT on Independent Lens’ Facebook Page and on Livestream.
Filmed over four years, the documentary goes inside the world of Egypt’s Zaballeen (Arabic for ‘garbage people’) to reveal the lives of two teenage boys born into the trash trade. For generations, the residents of Cairo have depended on the Zaballeen to collect their trash, paying them only a minimal amount for their garbage collection services.
These entrepreneurial garbage workers survive by recycling 80 percent of all the garbage they collect, creating what is arguably the world’s most efficient waste disposal system. Recycling to lift themselves out of poverty, the Zaballeen have, through necessity, devised ingenious solutions to one of the world’s most pressing problems.
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Free Lesson Plans Bring Context to Protests in Egypt
For educators and community organizers: check out our FREE lesson plans and video modules for the film Shayfeen.com: We’re Watching You about three women in Egypt who form an online watchdog group to monitor the elections in 2005.
This is a great way to teach about democracy, corruption, and the power of citizen journalism to effect social change. The lesson plans are part of our Women’s Empowerment collection of educator resources.
We are the garbage collectors. Always blessed.
Garbage Dreams records the tremblings of a culture at a crossroads… the film digs into the politics of a life that few would choose but many depend on. -The New York Times
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. But now multinational corporations threaten their livelihood. Follow three teenage boys, born into the business, who are forced to make choices that will impact the survival of their community.
Garbage Dreams premieres tonight, Tuesday, April 27 at 10:00 on Independent Lens on PBS (check local listings).
Recycling is not just good for the environment — it’s also sound economic practice. Take on the role of the Zaballeen and turn trash into cash by playing the Garbage Dreams interactive recycling game.
From Trash to Trade: The Garbage Dreams Game
Garbage Dreams Game
Filmed over four years, director Mai Iskander’s documentary Garbage Dreams goes inside the world of Egypt’s Zaballeen (Arabic for “garbage people”) to reveal the lives of three teenage boys born into the trash trade.
Premiering on Independent Lens on April 27th (check local listings), the broadcast of Garbage Dreams is accompanied by the Garbage Dreams Game, in which players assume the role of the Zaballeen. The game demonstrates that recycling is not just good for the environment; it’s also sound economic practice.
Players start with cash and expenses, one very hungry goat, one neighborhood, and one paper recycling factory. To grow their business and build efficiency, players can make investments in new equipment to recycle other materials, buy extra trucks, hire workers, or expand into wealthier neighborhoods.
Players sort through trash and recycle what can be recycled in Cairo — paper, organics, aluminum, tin, plastic, and glass — all against a ticking clock, sorting through trash piles with the speed, strategy, and efficiency required to match the 80 percent recycling rate of the Zaballeen within 12 rounds of play.
Corresponding lesson plans for grades 9-12 and middle school complement the game and the film, and further explore the issue of recycling and the globalized economy.
Goats, trucks, and territories; organics, paper, and tin. Learn how Egypt’s Zaballeen turn trash into cash. Play the recycling game.
www.pbs.org/independentlens/garbage-dreams/game.html
Garbage Dreams Events Make People Look At Garbage Differently
Community Cinema held 37 free events for Garbage Dreams, which focused on raising awareness about recycling. From the sheer number of questions about recycling, we know that the film sparked discussion, moved people to action, and provided education on the local level. Filmed over four years, Garbage Dreams follows three teenage boys born into the trash trade and growing up in the world’s largest garbage village –– a ghetto located on the outskirts of Cairo. The film will have its television premiere on April 27 at 10:00 PM on Independent Lens on PBS (check local listings). Learn more about the local impact of Community Cinema below.
Filmmaker Mai Iskander
Filmmaker Mai Iskander sat down in January with Kojo Nnamdi on WAMU in Washington, D.C. to talk about global environmental challenges and how the “Zabaleen” — or garbage collectors — and how they’ve captured the world’s attention for their startlingly efficient, eco-friendly, and low-tech methods of recycling.
Listen to the full interview [20 minutes] >>
The New York Times‘ Jeannette Catsoulis reviewed Garbage Dreams. She said, “…this new film digs deeper into the politics of a life that few would choose but many depend on.” Read her full review >>
At one of our first events at the Saratoga Springs Public Library in New York, our partner organization for the free screening was the local chapter of The Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA). Our speaker from GAIA was Tracy Frisch, who is active in several other nonprofit organizations in the area. There were also two audience members –– a husband and wife –– who own a local Egyptian products store and were brought up in Cairo.
In sunny San Diego, Calif., at the San Diego Public Library, Garbage Dreams was the best screening of the season according to our partners. It was the biggest audience so far, and the event had an excellent speaker who kept more than half the audience in their seats for Q&A. The film presented an opportunity to discuss grassroots activism and how to mobilize now on recycling issues in San Diego. Read local coverage from the the San Diego Reader >>
Now is the time for recycling. In the video below, filmmaker Mai Iskander and Adham, one of the young subjects from the film, take us on a tour of a typical American trash dumpster:
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