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Blood in the Mobile: Mining in the Congo


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Subjects: Abuse, Activism, African Studies, Anthropology, Child Labour, Children's Rights, Consumerism, Consumption, Global Issues, Human Rights, International Relations, International Trade, Political Science, Poverty, Social Justice, Sustainability, Technology

Grade Level: SrH-Adult
Producer: Filmakers Library
Closed Captioned: No		 Running Time: 82 mins
Country of Origin: Denmark
Study Guide: No
Copyright Date: 2011
Available in French: No

We all love our mobile phones. They connect us to our family and friends. But they also connect us with the Democratic Republic of Congo, one of the most dangerous places on earth. Inside our mobile phones are illegally mined minerals, minerals that fuel conflict, create child slavery, and support other severe human rights abuses in the Congo.

This riveting documentary reveals a mineral trade plagued with violence and human exploitation. The director takes on the Congolese military and corrupt warlords with barnstorming bravado to gain access to Bisie, a militia-controlled slave mine that produces cassiterite, a tin oxide used in cell phones. As many as 25,000 captive workers live there in unimaginable squalor and fear.

He takes his findings back to the Finnish mobile phone giant Nokia, a company that nets up to $1.6 billion in profits annually. His hope is that Nokia will stand behind its claim that “Sustainability is in everything we do.” But Nokia refuses to acknowledge “blood” minerals are used in the manufacture of cellphones.

Blood in the Mobile is a film about about human courage, and about hope and the search for solutions.

“Blood in the Mobile brings to light important issues to consider in our race for connectivity.”
- Heather Haynes, programmer, Hot Docs

Awards:
Winner, Cinema for Peace award in Berlin, 2011

Screened at:
Hot Docs Festival, Toronto, 2011
Amnesty International Movies That Matter, Netherlands, 2011
It’s All True International Documentary Film Festival, 2011
Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival, 2011
ZagrebDox, Croatia, 2011
True/False Film Festival, Colombia, 2011


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