Enter the extraordinary world of seven-year-old Marina. She is an imaginative, smart, beautiful child and her story leads us into the never-before-seen Muqqattam garbage-recycling village in Cairo.
Those who live and work here are called Zabbaleen and their way of life consists of Cairo¹s garbage collection, sorting, and recycling. This relatively small group of people is responsible for the collection and recycling of more than 2,000 tons of garbage every day.
Garbage piled three stories high, rats scurrying through the debris, it's home to Marina. She goes to school, goes to church, she even goes to the dentist and she dreams of becoming a doctor one day.
Most of the Zabbaleen are Coptic Christians. A major component of their garbage recycling is the use of pigs to consume the organic waste. Recently, they have been affected by the Swine Flu pandemic with disastrous results.
Marina of the Zabbaleen transforms a squalid landfill village into a heartwarming portrait of family, childhood, and spirituality.
70 & 54 minutes, www.marinathemovie.com