Garbage Dreams

Winner at the Woodstock Film Festival for Best Editing, 2009. Directors Guild of America Nominee 2009. Shortlisted for the 2009 Academy Awards.

On the outskirts of Cairo lies the world's largest garbage village. The village is home to 60,000 Zaballen (Arabic for "garbage people"), a group of entrepreneurial garbage workers who recycle nearly all the trash they collect from Cairo. Boasting an 80 percent recycling rate, the Zaballen maintain what could be the world's most efficient waste disposal system. 

Filmed over four years, Garbage Dreams follows three teenage boys born into the Zaballeen's trash trade: 17 year old Adham, 16 year old Osama, and 18 year old Nabil. Faced with the globalization of their trade, Adham and Osama are each forced to make choices that will impact their futures and the survival of the Zaballen community.