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Enter the extraordinary world of seven-year-old Marína, as she lives in the Muqqattam garbage recycling village in Cairo, Egypt. Her world of simple beauty and big dreams cannot be diminished by the difficulty of her circumstances. An impressionistic portrait of childhood and family, the film also tells the story of the resourceful Zabbaleen, a Coptic Christian community of recyclers whose entrepreneurial waste management system produces the highest recycling rate in the world.

As reported in The New York Times, The Economist, The Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, the Los Angeles Times, and elsewhere in May 2009, in reaction to the outbreak of Swine Influenza, the Egyptian government ordered the eradication of the country’s pig population. For almost a century, the Zabbaleen had raised pigs to consume the thousands of tons of organic waste generated daily by Cairo’s residents.

No people has felt the ramifications of the Swine Influenza pandemic more acutely than the Zabbaleen, who were stripped of the crucial foundation of their thorough recycling system.

Torch Films and Blue Nile Productions are partnering with a network of influential organizations to help the Zabbaleen survive their dislocation and reach sustainability once more —- and are allocating 10% of gross retail sales revenues of the film, including the revenues from the sale of this DVD, toward that effort.

With inspiration from the Zabbaleen’s thorough recycling system, distribution of the film is setting the global standard for an environmentally and socially responsible independent motion picture release, serving as a benchmark for green film distribution. Mindful that Marína comes from a family of paper sorters, the film's marketing campaign has been completely paperless, to date. Digital marketing and distribution processes have been integral to the release. Theatrical distribution utilizes vanguard digital cinema technology, and innovative DVD distribution reduces the carbon footprint of the process by more than 50%, on a per unit basis, from that of standard industry practice. Torch Films is utilizing the greenest DVD technology available, the Flex DVD created by CD Digital Card, which uses 50% less polycarbonate plastic material than traditional DVDs, emits 50% less CO2 in manufacturing, and eliminates the necessity of non-biodegradable bonder. Marína of the Zabbaleen is the first feature film to utilize this DVD technology. 100% soy-based inks are used for all printing, and DVD packaging is constructed from 95% recycled and 100% recyclable materials.
 
 
Please note: This DVD purchase does NOT include a license of Public Performance Rights or Educational Rights. This DVD may only be screened for private home use unless Public Performance Rights are purchased separately from Torch Films.