Coming to VOD today, Tuesday, October 22: TRASH DANCE
Andrew Garrison’s chronicle of the transformation of sanitation work into spectacle debuted at SXSW last year, where it received a special jury mention. It went on to screen at Full Frame, Silverdocs, and Woods Hole, picking up audience awards at each, as well as New Orleans, DocuWest, Warsaw, Heartland, DOXA, Lincoln Center’s Dance on Camera, and Sedona, among others. The Orchard now releases the film on iTunes, Amazon, Xbox, Google Play, and Vudu.
Set in Austin TX, Garrison’s film follows an unexpected collaboration between choreographer Allison Orr and the city’s sanitation department that results in a one-night only mechanistic ballet of garbage trucks and the unheralded workers who keep the city clean. While the sold-out performance serves as the successful end of Orr’s project, what’s equally, or perhaps more, compelling are her research ridealongs and interviews with the skeptical, primarily African American and Latino/a garbagemen and -women whom she tries to convince to participate in the unorthodox project. To paraphrase one of the men, “what does this short-haired white lady want with us?” Orr’s full answer is wisely withheld until the film’s end, allowing the audience to recognize for themselves her motives in shining a spotlight on an often denigrated, but absolutely essential profession.
what (not) to doc 