The audience of the 16th Travelling International Human Rights Documentary Film Festival Docudays UA gathered together on 5 December at the culture and art center Vernissage on Panska to watch the investigative film Death by Design by Sue Williams.

The film exposes the dark side of complex mutual connections between technology, nature and humanity. It destroys the stereotype about the “environmental friendliness” of the digital industry, because all the components of gadgets leave toxic leftovers on our planet.

In China, where most gadgets are manufactured, 60 percent of groundwater is polluted. IBM workers and their children suffer from numerous cancer illnesses. Overtime labor in inhuman conditions and tonnes of e-garbage—this is an incomplete list of side effects of the manufacturing.

During the whole screening, the audience was almost completely silent. From time to time, sad sighs or tongue-clicking could be heard when the stories about the consequences of soil pollution with heavy metals in San Jose and about cases of suicide in China were told.

The filmmaker leaves the question of “Who is to blame after all?” open. Corporations that chase profits regardless of the health of their workers and the toxic effect on the environment? Or users who update their gadgets almost every year, turning old models into tonnes of e-garbage?

So after the screening, the audience gladly shared their thoughts, recalling how much “outdated” stuff they kept at home in a drawer and how much money they had spent on modern gadgets.

“I was very impressed by the film. I’ve never thought about where old phones or computers go. Now I’ll think three times before I buy any state-of-the-art feature,” said one of the viewers after the screening.

The Travelling Festival in Chernivtsi will take place until 11 December. Its traditional organizers are NGO Culture Research Lab and NGO Ukrainian Youth Club. The Festival’s partners in the city are the Chernivtsi City Council, Department of Culture of the Chernivtsi City Council, the Ukrainian People’s House in Chernivtsi and Paul Celan Literaturzentrum. See the schedule of the events here.

Author: Sophia Krynska