VIFF: Manufacturing Landscapes

I read the magazines. I check the websites. I feel that I've got my finger on the pulse of the world's environmental collapse. What I had previously thought of as disastrous was in fact blown from the water yesterday as Jennifer Baichwal's documentary on Edward Burtynsky unraveled before my eyes. Burtynsky has gained notoriety for large photographs that capture nature as it's been transformed by industry.

What better place to witness this than China, with it's love of coal, 1.3 billion people hustling and bustling like wildmen, and endless rows of factories that build stuff we can later waste.http://www.viff.org/index.html

China's rush to be, as one person in the film calls it, the "manufacturer for the world" is captured on Super-16 mm film with compelling images of beaches designated as ship wrecking beaches and enormous open pit mines. The visit to the Three Gorges dam is particularly compelling. The 1.1 million people displaced by the 15 year project are now being paid per brick to tear the cities down that they spent centuries building.

It's political. It's artistic. It's all true.

Showtimes at VIFF

Thursday, October 12th 11:30 am
Empire Granville 7 Theatre 3