Manufactured Landscapes is the striking new documentary on the world and work of renowned artist Edward Burtynsky.
Full Synopsis: Internationally acclaimed for his large-scale photographs of manufactured landscapes -- quarries, recycling yards, factories, mines and dams -- Burtynsky creates stunningly beautiful art from civilization's materials and debris. The film follows him through China, as he shoots the evidence and effects of that country's massive industrial revolution. With breathtaking sequences, such as the opening tracking shot through an almost endless factory, the filmmakers also extend the narratives of Burtynsky's photographs, allowing us to meditate on our impact on the planet and witness both the epicenters of industrial endeavor and the dumping grounds of its waste. In the spirit of such environmentally enlightening hits as An Inconvenient Truth and Rivers and Tides, Manufactured Landscapes powerfully shifts our consciousness about the world and the way we live in it, without simplistic judgments or reductive resolutions.
From here, director Jennifer Baichwal raises concerns about the environment and the ways in which our planet is changing. Camera man Peter Mettler helps to bring these issues to the forefront through stunning cinematography which acts as a counterpart to Burynsky's images of modern China.
"The upright, two legged naked ape that appeared in Africa 150,000 years ago has become an immense force. Our species is now altering the physical, chemical and biological features of the planet on a geological scale. This film let's us look at the impressive, yet troubling scale of our impact. Everyone should see it!"
- DAVID SUZUKI
"A protracted exploration of the aesthetic, social and spiritual dimensions of industrialization and globalization... Raises some significant and sobering questions about the impact that we, as humans, make on our environment"
- NEW YORK TIMES
"Manufactured Landscapes tracks the beauty and the horror of industry's imprint on the earth"
