From Trash to Treasure (2020)
★★½ — From Trash to Treasure (2020)
A 24-minute short documentary from Iara Lee, the Brazilian-American activist filmmaker best known for her work with Cultures of Resistance Films, a production outfit she founded to spotlight grassroots creative movements across the Global South. Lee had previously drawn significant attention with her footage from the 2010 Gaza flotilla raid, and her broader filmography reads as a kind of ongoing argument that art and culture are forms of political resistance. This film, produced across Brazil, Bulgaria, the United States, and Lesotho itself, centres on textile artist Nthabiseng TeReo Mohanela, who transforms discarded materials into clothing and accessories in a landlocked mountain kingdom entirely surrounded by South Africa, a country whose economic and political shadow falls heavily over Lesotho's domestic life.
A-Z World Movie Tour Lesotho Trash to Treasure is the kind of documentary that starts with a spark of real promise, bright-eyed kids in Lesotho turning scrap into art, tackling big themes like poverty, HIV, and sustainability, but ends up feeling like a school project that never quite reached its final draft. The concept is brilliant. We follow a group of young people learning to create fashion and crafts from discarded materials, all while navigating life in communities still reeling from the HIV/AIDS crisis and widespread economic hardship. The film opens with some powerful moments, raw interviews, personal stories, a sense of urgency, that suggest we’re in for something deep and meaningful. But then… it never digs deeper. Themes are introduced with the emotional weight of a sledgehammer, only to be dropped almost immediately. One minute we’re hearing about a teen’s experience growing up HIV-positive; the next, we’re watching her stitch together a dress made from plastic bags. That said, there’s undeniable charm in the subjects themselves. These kids are resilient, creative, and full of spirit. Watching them turn literal trash into wearable art is inspiring, even if the narrative around it feels a bit hollow. And visually there are moments of real beauty with vivid colours against bleak backdrops, hands at work shaping something out of nothing. Worth watching if you’re interested in grassroots social initiatives or youth-led creativity in under-resourced communities. But don’t expect a tightly woven story or profound insight. It’s a noble effort that leans on heart more than structure.
Rating: ★★½ | Year: 2020 | Watched: 2025-07-08
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More from Brazil: Rio 2096: A Story of Love and Fury (2013) · City of God (2002) · The Day I Met You (2023)
More from the 2020s: Mononoke the Movie: The Phantom in the Rain (2024) · Mononoke the Movie: Chapter II - The Ashes of Rage (2025) · The Long Walk (2025) · Americana (2023)
More documentary: Letter from Siberia (1957) · Lessons of Darkness (1992) · Style Wars (1983) · Here and Elsewhere (1976)
