Wasurerareta kodomotachi

all posters
? %
Japan, 1994, 100 min

Directed by:

Hiroshi Shinomiya

Screenplay:

Hiroshi Shinomiya

Cinematography:

Toshihiko Uriu
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North of Manila lies a large rubbish dump which has been in use since 1954. As now and then the heating garbage starts to smoulder spontaneously, the enormous mountain of waste is popularly called 'Smoky mountain'. Through the years, illegal slums have developed around the dump where more than 21,000 people live. Most of them forage around on the dump every day, looking for metal, plastic and other material that might bring them some money. After a day's work, most of them have earned around two dollars. Japanese filmmaker Hiroshi Shinomiya was shocked when he first saw the human ant heap on the rubbish dump: "I remember my body going stiff, as the sight was just what I imagined to be hell." Not surprisingly, Hiroshi calls it "the most deplorable slums in the East". In scavengers he follows four children, for four years, that live off the dump: fourteen-year-old Marilou, her eighteen-year-old friend who is nicknamed J.R., thirteen-year-old Emong and sixteen-year-old Christina. The film not only shows them searching and rummaging about on 'Smoky Mountain', but also sheds light on their family background. As time goes by, Hiroshi is more and more impressed by these kids' resilience: "Their eyes were clear and sparkling. Honestly, I sensed something I didn't quite understand but which I had never felt with children in Japan. It was refreshing and yet strange." (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)

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