Raw Material

The dreams of large steelworks for dirt-cheap scrap, Greece’s environmental obligations to the European Union, and the Western dream of an army of illegal immigrants come together in a string of shanty towns in the shadow of the Acropolis. Which of the three is trodden underfoot? Three Roma from Albania, two Indians, a Turk, one Greek and a boy among them are a mere sample of the endless army of desperados who recycle the metal of an entire nation. The heroes of Raw Material are raw material themselves, huntergatherers in the heart of a modern European capital city. The film documents their toil in the city streets, through the turning of the seasons and the frenetic cyrcles of global economy.