Doba měděná/Copper Age

A unique Czech documentary film takes us to Zambia, a country with significant copper reserves. Once upon a time, the state mined and sold the copper itself. Then the price of copper dropped, and the mines were forcibly privatized in favor of Western multinational companies. While the revenue previously funded schools, healthcare, and infrastructure, today all the money leaves the country, including generous subsidies from the European Investment Bank. Czech documentary filmmaker Ivo Bystřičan and cameraman Jiří Málek come to see how a situation reminiscent of everyday news in the Western world actually looks in reality. We are used to seeing the so-called third world through the eyes of passionate activists fighting poverty and various humanitarian organizations. In contrast, Copper Age soberly shows that we should be more interested in how this "selfless" aid actually works in practice.

directed by Ivo Bystřičan