Media That Matters Film Festival: Recycle: About

SIXTH ANNUAL FESTIVAL

Recycle

6:00 min
Documentary
Vasco Lucas Nunes and Ondi Timoner, Directors and Producers

Winner of the Sustainability Award
Sponsored by Stonyfield Farm

ABOUT THE FILM

More About Recycle from Directors and Producers Vasco Lucas Nunes and Ondi Timoner

Recycle is a portrait of a day in the life of Miguel Diaz in the hilly Los Angeles neighborhood of Echo Park. Miguel is a homeless man who is a native of Baja California and departed a few years back when he broke up with his wife, leaving his daughter behind, the queen of his heart. He currently makes a living by recycling materials in the Echo Park area. During the film he was living inside a van, but currently it is not known where he spends his nights.

Along with his job as a recyclist he is also a gardner who made a community garden for his fellow homeless friends who come in the early afternoon to swap their shopping carts’ worth of recyclable materials for a few bucks. He is recovering from substance abuse through his philosophy of recycling life. Diaz uses all the thrown away items that he collects to make a community garden in the median of his street, while offering his insights on survival and nature.

Vasco Lucas Nunes and Ondi Timoner co-directed the film. Nunes rendered images on 35 mm while Timoner recorded the voice and singing of Miguel Diaz for the six-minute documentary during three days of shooting.