Proposal
Title | Director/Producer | Genre | Length | Stage |
Building the 21st Century Toilet | Dennis Cieri | Documentary | 60 mins | Post Production |
Building the 21st Century Toilet will be told as a captivating mosaic of Malagasy characters and scenes, interspersed by interviews with science, technology and sustainability experts. Using a stark juxtaposition of Madagascar’s vibrant nature with the abject poverty of its residents, we will present the challenges of building Western-type sanitation systems and the urgent need for technological advancements. Through interviews with UNICEF and WASHPlus experts, we will reveal the pressing hygiene and drinking water problems caused by inadequate sanitation, and explain the innovative solutions piloted by technological startups.
Using the revealing footage of Madagascar’s capital Antananarivo, we will let the audience follow the Loowatt startup’s crew on their daily waste-collection walks through the impoverished neighborhoods, where chickens and cars trot down the street with the same speed, and children jump over open sewer ditches. Through our film, the audience will meet the locals who now use the waterless toilets, listen to the crew members’ explanations of how their bio-digester technology produces biogas, and hear their hopes for the future of their country—while expanding this view to the rest of the world. Finally, through interviews with scientists and visionary thinkers, we will also explain what the rest of the world can glean from this new technological approach and explain why waste management methods will have to evolve even in the planet’s most affluent regions.