Jens Schanze

Will man go beyond biology? It's an age-old dream to create intelligent machines that equal their human creators. Computer experts around the world, like Raymond Kurzweil and Hiroshi Ishiguro, strive to fulfill their bold visions. Meanwhile, of all people one of the pioneers of the computer age, Joseph Weizenbaum, battles against the limitless faith of society in the redemptive powers of technology. A fascinating yet uncanny and sometimes grotesque journey into science reality.

By 2045, twenty localities in Germany will be resettled because of brown coal open pit mining. The film Waste Land follows the inhabitants of three villages in the Rhenish coal-mining district during their last years in their old home and documents how an entire region prepares for its collective relocation.

The village of Tamaquito lies deep in the forests of Colombia. Here, nature provides the people with everything they need. But the Wayúu community's way of life is being destroyed by the vast and rapidly growing El Cerrejón coal mine. Determined to save his community from forced resettlement, the leader Jairo Fuentes negotiates with the mine's operators, which soon becomes a fight to survive.

Bolivia has the world's largest deposits of lithium, a metal that is essential for the energy transition. Without lithium, no electricity storage facility, no data centre, no electric car, no smartphone would work. The Europeans want the raw material to save their automotive industry. The Bolivians want it to combat poverty. While the Bolivian government negotiates with corporations from around the world, civil society groups are mobilising in rural areas, organised mainly by women. The film offers a rare insight into the Europeans' strategy to secure the sought-after material and carves out the conflicting interests towards extractivism and industrialisation in Bolivia.

The second part of Jens Schanze's cinematic chronicle of the village resettlements in connection with the “Garzweiler II” open-cast lignite mine operated by RWE AG. Using the 700-year-old village of Otzenrath near Düsseldorf as an example, the film tells how the people experienced their forced resettlement.