Bottlemen
Nemanja Vojinovic / Serbia & Slovenia / 2023 / 84 min
7,000 years ago, the area was one of the largest civilisations in prehistoric Europe. Today, it is the largest landfill on the continent. An unexpected festival hit about the men who fight a daily battle against the fury of the elements.
The irony of the fact, that the cradle of European civilisation is today its biggest rubbish bin, is devastating. But the festival hit ‘Bottlemen’ anchors any lofty idea of history as tragedy and farce in the dirty realities. We are in the suburb of Vinča on the outskirts of Belgrade among hard-working Roma men, also known as bottlemen. They have left their families behind to fight a deadly battle against the elements in the landfill’s toxic environment of burning rubbish, squawking seagulls and grinding tractors, collecting recyclable plastic bottles to earn their daily bread. They are organised in small groups, living together and fighting over who belongs at the top of the hierarchy. But suddenly, a new threat appears on the horizon. ‘Bottlemen’ infiltrates the wolf pack of bottle men in the apocalyptic landscape and confronts us with the shadow side of our own overconsumption.