Mardi Gras: Made in China

Appeared at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival
Documentarian David Redmon presents an unconventional critique of globalization by looking at both the creation and final destination of a seemingly trivial object. In China, Redmon films young women toiling 12 to 20 hours a day, for $12.80 a week, to create the gaudy beaded necklaces that have become an essential part of New Orleans's Mardi Gras celebrations. Half a world away on Bourbon Street, the revelers are asked to imagine where these beads came from, with Redmon providing the visual answer. "Sly, engrossing" - Village Voice.

The price of the west's appetite for junk.