Environmental Film Festival - Madison 11/05

Dominique Haller

With Jean still being sick, we unfortunately had to cancel our show about Garbage Dreams, one of the films that will screen at the "Tales from Planet Earth" Film Festival here in Madison this weekend.

In her film, director Mai Iskander follows three teenage boys who were born into the trash trade and who grow up in the outskirts of Cairo, in what is called Cairo's garbage village. Here, 60,000 Zaballeen or garbage people survive by recycling 80% of the garbage they collect from Cairo residents. While Mai's film clearly shows the hardship of the Zaballeen in the face of poverty and the globalisation of their trade, it also highlights some of the environmental lessons we can learn from environmental and social grassroots movements all around the world.

The "Tales from Planet Earth" Environmental Film Festival will screen a wide array of films not only about the environment, but also about the social consequences our actions on the environment have. But "Tales from Planet Earth" does more than just show films. The festival has partnered with several community organizations where you can take action - so once the lights go back on, you can direct your energy back into several community events.