The Dumpster Diver
An Israeli ‘garbage archeologist’ tells the history of Tel Aviv through his daily work.
Filmmaker: Morit Maman
Moshe Cohen is a ‘garbage archeologist’. His life on the streets of Tel Aviv, Israel’s capital city, is dedicated to plundering the city’s dumpsters looking for discarded objects, often things thrown away after recent death.
He collects artefacts, antiques and things which he believes tell a personal, historical story – everything from old Palestinian passports, to suitcases, to bedsheets, clothes or pictures.
Occasionally there will be something valuable, an antique or a gold watch, but mostly his daily activities just chronicle the day-to-day history of Tel Aviv.
The film follows him around Tel Aviv as he is traveling the streets collecting rubbish.