Marlen is eight years old. Every day she travels with her brother Roberto, her sister Tamara and her boyfriend Polaco from the suburban slums to the city of Buenos Aires. Until long after midnight, the children gather reusable material such as paper, cardboard boxes, plastic bottles. Working as Cartoneros in the rubbish dumps is the only way for Marlen and her sisters to support their family. An unimaginably hard life, but Marlen nevertheless has a dream – she wants to live in the Stadt der Kinder (City of Children), where different rules prevail: »… that all children have a mother and a father, that all parents give their children something to eat, that all children have a home, that no child has to work any longer in the street«. Cartonera chronologically presents a day in the life of these children, seen from their eye level.

Jury statement: Children collecting wastepaper on the streets of Buenos Aires. Maria Goinda accompanies these children with a calmness and composure that can be seen in her outstanding hand-camerawork. In this type of documentary situation which cannot be controlled, she manages to create an adequate visual language. Her camerawork brings us very close to the children, giving an insight into their strategies for survival.