Landfill Harmonic

The world generates over a billion tons of garbage a year, much of it ending up in poor rural communities like Cateura, Paraguay, where over 2,000 families survive by separating garbage for recycling. When a teen music program there can’t afford new instruments, a garbage picker named Cola fashions a violin from an empty oil tin – thus inspiring the Recycled Orchestra. With instruments made out of trash, the orchestra performs locally first, then regionally, eventually flying to Rio de Janeiro, something the kids could never in their lives have imagined doing. The film follows the young musicians as they reach even greater heights, performing concerts in the US, Europe, and Asia – even sharing the stage with heavy metal super-group, Metallica. Taking us into the homes and lives of the teenage performers and their families, Landfill Harmonic is a deeply moving story about the transformative power of music, and the good that comes from taking what others discard to create something of beauty and value.