Charcoal Burning

In Switzer­land, a film­mak­er who was fas­ci­nat­ed as a child by the char­coal piles close to his home decid­ed to make a film about char­coal burn­ing. In the Congo, a French doc­u­men­tary film­mak­er found a char­coal burner who under­takes this huge effort all on his own in order to feed his family. Both films were com­plet­ed in the same year. We were fas­ci­nat­ed by this coin­ci­dence, and it is the ideal start­ing point for a sub­ject that inspires so many fun­da­men­tal ideas. Char­coal has been a source of energy for many cen­turies. Indus­tri­al­ly pro­duced char­coal still exists today, but the qual­i­ty is infe­ri­or, and eco­log­i­cal­ly con­tro­ver­sial. The sus­tain­abil­i­ty of this trade is a prob­lem. No one prof­its in the long term if the last trees are cut down in Africa to pro­duce char­coal. With­out doubt, char­coal burn­ing also pro­duces pol­lu­tants. On the other hand, it is an effi­cient and renew­able energy source up to a lim­it­ed degree. Mean­while, bar­be­quing con­tin­ues to gain pop­u­lar­i­ty in Europe, along with new, rather lux­u­ri­ous ways of using char­coal – for exam­ple, in Japan­ese tea cer­e­monies. … read more