There’s a Hollywood junk vs. Egyptian trash joke buried somewhere in here: Mai Iskander once worked assistant camera on films like Deep Impact and The Bone Collector. Now, her feature directing debut, Garbage Dreams, is premiering in the Documentary Competition at SXSW. It follows three teenage Egyptian boys for four years, as they go to work in “the world’s largest garbage village.” The film’s trailer is after the jump, where director also answers The 5 Questions We Ask Everyone.

Tell us about your movie. Who did you work with, why did you make it? Give us the reductive, 25-word or less, “It’s like [pop culture reference a] meets [pop culture reference b]!” pitch, then explain what the quick and dirty sell leaves out.

Garbage Dreams follows three boys raised in the trash trade and coming of age in the world’s largest garbage village.  It’s like Born Into Brothels meets Boys of Baraka meets an Egyptian soap opera.  (In case, you haven’t seen an Egyptian Soap Opera - it’s a bit more dramatic than those Latin novellas!)

Do you have a day job/a non-filmmaking occupation that raises money for your filmmaking efforts? Tell us about it.

I work as a cinematographer (based in New York City).  That’s how I supported myself and funded part of the film.  I worked as a cinematographer with great filmmakers, such Edet Belzberg and Albert Maysles while I was producing my film and that was invaluable to helping navigate my way through the filmmaking process.  Whenever I ran into an obstacle (either from the creative side or the producing side of things) I was able see how other filmmakers approached that same obstacle.

I was also very fortunate to have received grants from The Sundance Documentary Fund, Chicken & Egg Pictures and a few other places, which gave the project momentum me until my executive producer, Tiffany Schauer, came on board.  Tiffany is great because she believed in the potential of the film when it was still young and has always been there to help me troubleshoot problems as they came up.

Have you been to SXSW before? If so, tell us about your funniest story from the experience. If not, what are you looking forward to re: the festival and/or the city of Austin?

I have never been to SXSW before, but I think there couldn’t be a better place to premiere Garbage Dreams.

I am looking forward to sharing the film with the residents of Austin as well as people traveling to Austin specifically for the festival.  The festival is in the middle of a such vibrant city, that is particularly interested in environmental issues and social issues.

Upon hearing that Adham, one of the teenage garbage recyclers from Garbage Dreamswill be traveling from Egypt for the premiere, a lot of local environmental and student organizations have invited him to do a few Q & A’s before the film’s premiere.  Adham, as well as his whole garbage village, are ecstatic that he is able to come the US and have the chance to represent the Egyptian “garbage people” and talk about their participation in the film.

Let’s get hypothetical: You’re on death row. The night of your execution, you’re allowed to watch any two films of your choice. What would you pick for your last-night-on-Earth double feature?

I think I would like to see Gone with The Wind.  I read the book, which was great.  I never wanted to see the movie because I thought it might fall short of the book.  But if I’m going to die soon afterwards, I won’t have to live long with any disappointment if the film does fall short of the book.  I think it is on two DVDs - that would count as two movies.

There’s been some criticism that the only way to get into SXSW is by being a part of an “incestuous scene where everybody knows everybody.” So who did *you* have to sleep with to get in? (Metaphorically or literally: are there any SXSW filmmaker(s) past or present that you’re close with personally and/or professionally, and how have those relationships helped or hurt the process of producing your film and getting it seen?)

I did not know anyone here at SXSW.  Of course, there are people that always spoke to me highly about it and strongly encouraged me to apply, like Laura Poitras (My Country, My Country) and Judith Helfand from Chicken & Egg Pictures.