China, Beijing, I Love You!

China, Beijing, I Love You! is an animated film about extraction of nickel and cobalt along China's Maritime Silk Road. The film focuses on the character of NICKEL DUST who is exiled from her home in Sulawesi Island due to nickel excavations there. On the other side of the world, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, cobalt is being extracted by artisanal miners. Both nickel and cobalt are the main components of batteries used in Electric Vehicle(EV) and mobile phones. As NICKEL DUST and COBALT DUST are shipped to China, on the Maritime Silk Road, and manufactured into EV batteries, we witness the environmental consequences of their extraction, geo-political effects of China’s expansion as well as the worker’s uprisings in nickel smelters on Sulawesi Island. Giving agency to the extracted minerals, and making them the protagonists of the story, the film investigates the geo-political, social and environmental consequences of ambitions for global expansion.

The film is made in collaboration with Danu Fitra.