Film Details
Synopsis
Follow a group of dumpster divers on a musical journey through the back alleys of Montreal. Between song and dance routines about waste and the joys of re-using other people's garbage, five young adults discuss the philosophy of living off of society's excess.
Director Paul Aflalo discusses his unique musical documentary Surfing the Waste:
"Right, so you see this long pan of garbage, with the narration by a British dude. As the narration stops we come to a shot of a dumpster and, all of sudden, a Barbershop Quartet pops out of the dumpster singing...
That's how I was first introduced to the idea of a Musical Documentary. My friend Tomoe Yoshihara proposed the idea in a class we were taking, and I knew that I had to take part in some way!
Tomoe and I had worked together before, on a film called Garbage Girl, and that experience made me know that working with him again would be fun, unique and simply a great idea. Along with Sandy Lombardi, we got together and began creating what has now become Surfing the Waste: A Musical Documentary About Dumpster Diving.
We brought together musicians, choreographers, and a team of dumpster divers to interview (Allison Trumble, Mike Kirk, Alden Penner, Liz Whitaker and Owain Lawson), and we began to brainstorm the whole concept of the film. We wanted the music to contain relevant information that would bring the film together in a more unique way than the traditional documentary style. With that in mind, we were lucky to get Alden Penner and Nic Boshart to write and compose the songs that are in the film.
Now the trick was to get a group of dumpster divers to sing. Well, they were happy to do it, if slightly embarrassed!
Surfing the Waste is unique in that it blends two genres together. The concept was to take the documentary style and add a punch to it, to attract more people. But we made it very clear that the musical aspect would help carry the film, and not just be eye candy (ear candy?). Essentially, we wanted to create something original that would underline a serious issue and lifestyle (dumpster diving), but also not turn people off right away. Come on, be honest...the idea of finding food in the garbage isn't all that attractive.
But neither is the waste of good food.
While I could go on for hours, I'd rather leave the rest to you. So without further ado, I bring to you our film, conceived from the bottom of a dumpster..."
Documentary filmmaker from Montreal, Paul Aflalo is always searching for the next story to tell. His most recent film Jahsun was an official selection for Radio Canada Internationals Digital Diversity Competition.
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