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Looming skeletons of decommissioned ships dwarf the figures of workers trudging barefoot along the Chittagong beachfront in Bangladesh. The men navigate around piles of rusty iron, the vestiges of the ships that made their final stop at the inaptly named "Peace, Happiness and Prosperity" shipyard.
"We work like animals," one man says, wading ankle-deep in sandy muck. He's pulling a heavy cable over his shoulder as he turns to the off-screen cameraman.
In his third feature-length film, IronEaters, social documentary filmmaker Shaheen Dill-Riaz follows the frustrating experience of migrant workers from Northern Bangladesh. The workers, primarily farmers, venture south to the Chittagong shipyard when famine strikes at home, hoping for a way to support their families.
November 5, 2009
3rd I Film Festival: 'IronEaters' by Shaheen Dill-Riaz
Looming skeletons of decommissioned ships dwarf the figures of workers trudging barefoot along the Chittagong beachfront in Bangladesh. The men navigate around piles of rusty iron, the vestiges of the ships that made their final stop at the inaptly named "Peace, Happiness and Prosperity" shipyard.
"We work like animals," one man says, wading ankle-deep in sandy muck. He's pulling a heavy cable over his shoulder as he turns to the off-screen cameraman.
In his third feature-length film, IronEaters, social documentary filmmaker Shaheen Dill-Riaz follows the frustrating experience of migrant workers from Northern Bangladesh. The workers, primarily farmers, venture south to the Chittagong shipyard when famine strikes at home, hoping for a way to support their families.
These men are called Lohakhor, or "Iron Eaters," as they labor to break
apart old tankers and container ships -- all by hand. The iron they
produce from the ships is sold and recommissioned for construction.
Filmed on location over the course of five months, IronEaters provides an intimate look into the deliberately complex and exploitative bureaucracy under which many of the migrant workers become trapped. In addition to risking their lives daily in dangerous working conditions, the workers fall into a cycle of debt and loans, as supervisors withhold wages and cut hours, forcing the workers to buy on credit from local grocers.
IronEaters boasts poignant visuals that tell a compelling and heartbreaking story of men who are at the mercy of nature, machine, and other men. Dill-Riaz presents amazing and terrifying footage of men struggling against machine; cables rip violently apart and massive ships crash to pieces into the sea while workers scramble out of the way. Dill-Riaz effectively captures a microcosmic example of greed and poverty in developing nations, along with the crushing feeling of helplessness that seems to govern the situation.
IronEaters is showing at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco at noon, Sunday, November 8 as a part of the 3rd I South Asian Film Festival.
Filmed on location over the course of five months, IronEaters provides an intimate look into the deliberately complex and exploitative bureaucracy under which many of the migrant workers become trapped. In addition to risking their lives daily in dangerous working conditions, the workers fall into a cycle of debt and loans, as supervisors withhold wages and cut hours, forcing the workers to buy on credit from local grocers.
IronEaters boasts poignant visuals that tell a compelling and heartbreaking story of men who are at the mercy of nature, machine, and other men. Dill-Riaz presents amazing and terrifying footage of men struggling against machine; cables rip violently apart and massive ships crash to pieces into the sea while workers scramble out of the way. Dill-Riaz effectively captures a microcosmic example of greed and poverty in developing nations, along with the crushing feeling of helplessness that seems to govern the situation.
IronEaters is showing at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco at noon, Sunday, November 8 as a part of the 3rd I South Asian Film Festival.
Posted by Jessica at November 5, 2009 1:43 AM
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