Join us for a screening of Sasha Friedlander’s stunning film ‘Where Heaven Meets Hell’ (2012), and an exploration of toxic materialities presented by Passengerfilms in collaboration with followthethings.com
Indonesia’s stunningly beautiful Kawah Ijen volcano, a popular tourist spot, belches smoke hundreds of feet into the air. Through the smoke tourists can see men carrying heavy baskets on their shoulders. These contain blocks of bright yellow sulphur chipped from the volcano’s smouldering slopes, destined to help make a range of everyday stuff from matches and fertilizer to cosmetics and sugar. Sulphur dioxide gas is thick in the air. It corrodes the miners’ lungs and the filmmaker’s cameras. Winner of multiple documentary film awards, Where Heaven Meets Hell provides not only a vivid insight into the harsh industrial landscapes of resource extraction but also prompts wider questions about the toxic materialities of our modern consumer cultures.
The film screening will be followed by a panel discussion and Q&A chaired by Prof. Phil Crang (Royal Holloway University) with Dr Ian Cook (Exeter University, CEO of followthethings.com), Prof. Gavin Bridge (Durham University, a resource expert and co-author of Oil, 2013), Dr Jennifer Gabrys (Goldsmiths, author of Digital Rubbish 2011 and co-editor of Accumulation: the Material Politics of Plastic, 2013), and Andrew Hickman and Andy Whitmore from the London Mining Network (http:// londonminingnetwork.org).
Monday 29th February / 6:30pm / The Water Poet, 9-11 Folgate Street, London E1 6BX / £5 entry
Venue Website: The Water Poet
Facebook Event: here
passengerfilms 
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News of the next Passengerfilms event on Monday 29th February. There’s a stellar panel lined up to discuss toxic materialities and the stunning film by Sasha Friedlander: Where Heaven Meets Hell (2012). Join us if you can.