Without lithium, no electricity storage facility, no data center, and no electric car would work. You don’t care? How about if we told you that without lithium, smartphones wouldn’t work either?
Materia Prima, the new documentary from Jens Schanze, goes to the frontiers, focusing on this raw metal and a new gold rush surrounding it. The film, exploring hidden mechanisms and dynamics of global interests and local realities, world premieres on Thursday, March 12 in the F:act Award section of CPH:DOX, the Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival, whose 23rd edition kicks off Wednesday and runs through March 22.
“The Europeans want the raw material to save their automotive industry. The Bolivians want it to combat poverty,” reads a synopsis for the doc. “In the midst of it all are the Bolivian government, corporations, but also civil society groups, mainly organized by women. By situating today’s lithium negotiations within 500 years of colonial history, the film confronts the continuities between past colonization and present-day resource politics.”
Why Bolivia, you ask? Well, the Bolivian Andes house the world’s largest lithium deposits. That is why while European governments and multinational corporations “compete for access to this ‘white gold’ to power the energy transition, local communities – farmers, miners, llama herders, and activists – face the deep and lasting impact on their daily lives,” the press notes for Materia Prima highlight. “Told through a multi-perspective, observational lens, Materia Prima reveals how global ambitions intersect with human stories, and how the past echoes in the present.”
Produced by Mascha Film GbR in co-production with Filmtank GmbH, the film will also screen in the Right Here, Right Now program of CPH:DOX. Produced by Schanze and Thomas Tielsch, the film features cinematography by Börres Weiffenbach The editor is Ulrike Tortora.
“After having spent a year living in Bolivia in the ‘90s, I started closely observing the struggle for natural resources in the context of colonialism and economic justice,” Schanze shares in a director’s statement. “In the case of Materia Prima, raw material extraction has not yet begun. The narration circles around the expectations of those involved and the negotiations between them. What image do the players involved have of each other? What role does the historical experience of colonialism play in their thinking and decision-making? How do the different sides interact with each other?”
Emphasizes the director: “Thanks to the long production period of nearly six years, we were able to establish a network in Bolivia and gain access to all parties involved: village communities, EU diplomats, EU entrepreneurs, and the Bolivian government.”
THR can now exclusively premiere a trailer for Materia Prima. It takes us to Bolivia with epic images and words full of hope, promises, sweat, llamas, and talk of guerrillas.
