Environmental films move DC audiences

Poster of Plastic China, which documents two families who made their livings on sorting and recycling plastic waste from Europe, the US and other parts of Asia. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY

Plastic China documents two families who made their livings on sorting and recycling plastic waste from Europe, the US and other parts of Asia. Their lives were built among mountains of plastic and the stench of incinerators. Nevertheless, the children always manage to find hidden treasures: a bag of balloons or magazines to cut pictures out of.

"Both films were immensely popular. They were among the hottest films at this year's festival — both screenings were full/over capacity," said Molly Berg, programming manager of the film festival.

However, the afternoon with two Chinese movies, co-presented by National Museum of American History and Freer and Sackler Galleries (National Museums of Asian Art), was not a coincidence.

"These two documentaries about China, about the environment; I thought they worked well together," said Tom Vick, curator of film at the Freer and Sackler Galleries, who selected the two movies.

"They're two very different films, two very different subjects, but both within the umbrella of the environment that I thought they were kind of a good fit," he said.

Lisa Cox of Florida was interested in finding out what happens with garbage and where it goes, and in this case, China.

"We recycled things, we sent them, and we don't know what happens to them," Cox said.

Fredi Devas from the UK shared Cox's astonishment as well.

"To be honest, I don't think I really understood, before I watched the film, just exactly what our consumption of plastic means. I feel so comfortable putting plastic into the recycling bin, and I don't really understand until now what that means," Devas said.

"That was a very powerful film."

Yuan Yuan in Washington contributed to the story.

CHINA DAILY