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Released
2010 · FILM

Waste Land

“What happens in the world's largest trash city will transform you.”

Directed by
Lucy Walker
Runtime
90 min
Documentary

Synopsis

This uplifting feature documentary explores the transformative power of art and the resilience of the human spirit. Contemporary artist Vik Muniz guides viewers through an emotional journey, beginning at Jardim Gramacho, the world's largest landfill located on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, and moving toward the realm of international art recognition. In the film, Muniz collaborates with catadores, individuals who collect recyclable materials, who are portrayed as remarkable figures with a deep philosophical outlook, often quoting Machiavelli and demonstrating how to recycle not just materials but also oneself.

Credits

Actors
Editor
Director of Photography
Director

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How many hands made this film

The scale of the collaboration

Principal cast & crew: 9

These are the principals we have on file — the full crew ran to the hundreds. Every film this size was made by far more hands than any credits list ever names.

Why a floor?

This is a minimum, not a total. We only count the credits we’ve captured so far, and coverage is uneven — a blockbuster might show a few hundred names while another of the same size shows a couple dozen. The real crews all ran into the thousands. The number here only grows as full credits are enriched — so we frame it as a floor, never a headcount.

Craft leads on file

Edited by Pedro KosShot by Ernesto HerrmannScored by Moby

Box Office

2010 · Box office

📉 Underperformed — grossed 0.1× its budget

Why 2.5×?

Cinemas keep roughly half of every ticket sold, and a wide release’s marketing often costs about as much again as the film — so a movie needs to gross around 2.5× its production budget just to break even theatrically. It’s a rule of thumb, not the studio’s ledger (home video and streaming come later).

Worldwide gross

$188K

Budget$1.5M
Worldwide gross$188K
break-even (2.5×)

Opening week (7-day): $10K

Peak 1 theaters

Also known as

  • Waste Land - Kunst aus Müllde

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