Manufactured Landscapes
Opens Friday 9 May 2008
90 mins. Cert U
'A profound, open-ended meditation on man's physical impact on his environment' Variety
'Beautiful, insightful and thought-provoking' Al Gore
'Strongly recommended to fans of Koyaanisqatsi and An Inconvenient Truth' The Village Voice
Jennifer Baichwal's award-winning documentary centres on renowned artist Edward Burtynsky whose large-scale photographs portray the devastating impact of industrial expansion on the environment.
Baichwal observes the artist at work amid some of the most surreal landscapes of the 21st century: China's mountains of computer waste; the Yangtze River where whole towns are disappearing in the flooding caused by the Three Gorges Dam; the shipbreaking yards of Bangladesh; Shanghai, with its increasingly crowded skyline and millions of new inhabitants.
Eschewing polemics, Burtynsky aims simply to bring these landscapes into our consciousness, to provoke reflection on some highly inconvenient truths. Yet Baichwal's film also exposes a tension between ethics and aesthetics: aren't these images of apocalyptic splendour just a little too seductive? One thing's for sure: it's a terrible beauty that's born.
Venues
Opens 9 May 2008
- BFI Southbank
Fri 9 May, 18:00 - Introduction by and Q&A with director Jennifer Baichwal
Fri 9 May, 20:20 - Q&A with Edward Burtynsky
Sat 10 May, 15:20 - Q&A with Jennifer Baichwal and Edward Burtynsky - The Gate, Notting Hill
Sun 11 May, 16:00 - Introduction by and Q&A with director Jennifer Baichwal - Barbican
- Ritzy, Brixton
- Cameo, Edinburgh
- Cambridge Picturehouse
From 23 May
1 to 3 June
- Tyneside Newcastle
3 June
6 to 12 June
11 to 12 June
13 to 15 June
16 to 19 June
18 June
21 to 22 June
24 to 25 June
27 to 28 June
