It’s often said that fact is stranger than fiction. In the case of these award-winning documentaries, the saying proves true. These films delve into incredible real-life scenarios and shed-light on issues that affect us all as global citizens.

Tonight (3 December), we’re pleased to present a very special screening of ‘Landfill Harmonic’, featuring a short concert by the subject of the documentary, the Recycled Orchestra of Cateura. The Paraguayan capital city of Asunción produces 1,500 tonnes of garbage daily, which it dumps in a landfill near the small town of Cateura. The young people living in the town have had few viable options for the future besides working in the dump; this cycle of poverty has appeared endless – until now.

When Favio Chavéz came to work in Cateura, he began to offer free music lessons, but it quickly became clear there were more hopeful students than available instruments in a place where a violin costs more than a house. But when Colá, a local trained as a carpenter, began producing instruments with materials found in the vast expanse of the landfill, the Recycled Orchestra was born.
After performing all over the world (and even onstage with the likes of major metal bands Megadeth and Metallica), now the Recycled Orchestra of Cateura will play in Doha!

Another not-to-miss doc is ‘Walls’. Throughout history, cities have surrounded themselves with fortified walls to protect against raids, and massive feats of engineering like the Great Wall of China have been constructed to repel invading marauders. Today, however, these structures have taken on a new face – one of containment and economic protectionism.
‘Walls’ follows subjects on both sides of three contemporary borders to explore what these walls stand for today. Their very construction signals a lack of camaraderie; imposing, unwelcoming and threatening, they define who is worthy – and who is not. Those who patrol the walls are determined to keep migrants out, while those who wish to cross the borders are resolute in their desire to gain a better life for themselves. Between these irreconcilable attitudes, walls and razor wire stand as mean-spirited symbols of selfishness and the fear of those who are not like us.

‘Walls’ screens one more time on Sat, 5 Dec 5 at 2:00 PM, K12-A.