NFB Collection
Crapshoot: The Gamble with Our Wastes
200352 min 43 secFilm: Documentary
Direction: Jeff McKay
Production: Joe MacDonaldGraydon McCrea
A hazardous mix of waste is flushed into the sewer every day. The billions of litres of water - combined with unknown quantities of chemicals, solvents, heavy metals, human waste and food - where does it all go? And what does it do to us?
From ancient times, countries have chosen the sewer to get rid of household and industrial waste, yet the contaminants we flush resurface in our food chain. Fish swim through waste water dumped into rivers, while sewage sludge is spread on farmland as fertilizer.
Filmed in Italy, India, Sweden, the United States and Canada, this bold documentary questions whether the sewer is actually compounding our waste problems. While scientists warn of links between sewage practices and potential health risks, activists, engineers and concerned citizens challenge our fundamental attitudes to waste. Does our need to dispose of waste take precedence over public safety? What are the alternatives?
Availability
Subject categories
- Industry and Commerce > Environmental Issues
- Environment and Conservation > Oceans, Seas and EstuariesPollutionRecycling and Waste Disposal
- Social Issues > Technology and Society
- Social Studies > Environmental Challenges
- Geography > Environmental Issues
- Science > Environmental Science
- History and Citizenship Education > Neolithic Civilization to the Renaissance
Credits
- director
- Jeff McKay
- editor
- Jeff McKay
- narration writer
- Ruth DeGraves
- producer
- Joe MacDonald
- executive producer
- Graydon McCrea
- narrator
- Ruth DeGraves
- camera
- Linda Danchak
- location sound
- Jerry Turchyn
- additional camera
- Jonathan Bland
- Jeff McKay
- original music
- Peter Bundy
- Jeff McKay
- music performer
- Peter Bundy
- Gunnar Lindgren
- production manager
- Jeff McKay
- Elisabetta Povoledo
- research
- Jeff McKay
- Ruth DeGraves
- Joe MacDonald
- Maureen Reilly
- story consultant
- Amanda McConnell
- translation
- Adriana Lombardini
- sound editor
- Saul Henteleff
- online editing
- Tony Wytinck
- final mix
- John Schritt
- production supervisor
- Scott Collins
- production assistant
- Melanie Coad
- Monique Perron
- production clerk
- Rolande Petit
- program administrator
- Cyndi Forcand
Awards
- Golden Sheaf Award - Category: Best Science / MedicineYorkton Film Festival
- Bronze Plaque - Category: Science and Technology International Film and Video Festival
- Second Place - Category: Oceans, Water Quality & WatershedsEarthVision Film & Video Festival
- Silver Plaque - Category: Documentary: Science / Nature at the Television AwardsInternational Film Festival