The documentary film MÜLL & POESIE looks at where and how the waste of our affluent society is collected, transported, sorted, processed, recycled, and transformed and looks for differences and similarities in waste management in cities and rural areas.

Our companion on this journey is the artist and philosopher ELISABETH VON SAMSONOWWith her we move in great peristaltic movements through a thematic field that has long been a subject of her cultural studies. We observe her in communication with the actors of waste management and in the manifold steps on the way to clarification, incineration, or a new destination. Her precise and yet always affectionate gaze extracts a lot of wit from the details and at the same time explores illuminating anthropological and cultural-theoretical dimensions.

The philosopher's gaze and thoughts reveal new angles on the question of what happens to what we discard from our lives and who are those who take care of it. Samsonow identifies the discarded as the excrement of our society and admires those who deal with it on a daily basis. For her goal of inciting a collective consciousness-raising debate about waste and the circular economy, reuse, and upcycling, she unhesitatingly climbs both deep into the sewers and high on a crane. She approaches the taboos and dark sides of the subject with cheerfulness and yet always remains grounded.

The people who share their daily work with us are also in good spirits. They all like what they do and are happy that someone is interested in them and their activities. From Sara Jäger, a rubbish truck driver at Saubermacher, to Arpad Horvath, who is on the road with the "sweeping task force" in the Graz city park, to wine grower and compost specialist Fred Loimer; from the goat caretaker on the Rautenweg to the St. Andräe Wördern scrap metal artist Stefan Novak: our companions of the discarded are experts in their field. They are passionate about what they do and communicate at eye level with the philosopher. Since their activities also have a lot to offer in terms of visual fascination, the subject matter calls for a film to be made of it.