Eriss Khajira, aged 27, was born in East Africa’s largest dumpsite: Dandora. This sprawling site is home to thousands who spend their days scavenging through Nairobi’s waste. Khajira returns to the place of her youth to portray her old friends, capturing their dreams and sorrows. A story of African poverty from the inside.
Written and directed by Anne van Campenhout and Eriss Khajira. Edited by Anne van Campenhout. Broadcasted by EO-IKON.
Following its broadcast in the Netherlands, viewers generously donated €3500 to enable co-director Eriss Kharija to complete her film studies. The film was acquired by the Taiwanese film station DaAi TV and was subsequently selected for NPO Sales 2014, IDFA Docs for Sale 2014 and the World International Film Festival 2015, a global industry event hosted in cities like New York City, Los Angeles, Toronto, Hong Kong, Singapore, Brisbane and Berlin. Dusty Bin Dreams won the Parda Award for Best Competing Film on International Cape Verde Film Festival 2015.
This intense, original documentary Dusty Bin Dreams stands as a brave and uncompromising film. Silent and hidden behind her camera, Eriss explores the absurdity of poverty. Dusty Bin Dreams is not a classical documentary. Eriss’ poetic visual style is very much in keeping with Samuel Beckett’s existentialist approach to theatre, or Thomas Eliot’s Waste Land, […] avoiding all the clichés of documentary cinema.” – CinéWomen
Omdat Khajira geen buitenstaander is wint zij het vertrouwen van de mensen die zij filmt. En dat levert prachtig materiaal op, over de mensen die hun geld verdienen door rond te snuffelen op een enorme berg vuil.” – De Correspondent