Dusty Bin Dreams
Eriss Khajira (1987) grew up on the largest dumpsite of East Africa: the Dandora dumpsite. Thousands of people live on and around this dumpsite, scavenging through the waste of Nairobi’s residents. Khajira goes back to the place of her youth and she portrays five dumpsite inhabitants. Among them are her good friend Textbook who is soon to be a father, handyman Goko who wants to organize the Dusty Bin and rapper Mavoke who is working on his musical breakthrough. The result is a touching and shocking documentary that shows the strengths, the sorrows and the dreams of Khajira’s slum neighbors. “Dusty Bin Dreams” tells the story of African poverty from the inside: a story of hope, friendship, despair and betrayal.
Directors
Eriss Khajira
Eriss (1987) was born and raised in the Dandora Slum, next to the Dandora dumpsite in Nairobi, Kenya. At the age of eleven she first saw a documentary on TV. A dream was born: she volunteered as the ‘bag carrier’ for a man who made videos for weddings and funerals, and she started to make small videos with a mobile phone. She got a job at the Nairobi Community Media House as a reporter for African Slum Journal. Nowadays she combines her job as the Chief Editor of the Media House with a part-time study in filmmaking at the Shang Tao Media Arts College. 'Dusty Bin Dreams' is her debut film. Her ultimate dream is to start a School of Journalism in Kenya.