DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
Before this film, I knew very little about sanitation, which, as the film explores, is true to many people who’ll watch it. What drew me in was learning how foundational it is: sanitation unlocks education, employment, children’s growth, longevity, a better life. And yet we still can’t get something as simple as a toilet to everyone. I wanted to know why.
I assumed it was the job of governments, a toilet feels like a basic right, and rights are what governments provide. That thinking was quickly challenged. I learned how much sanitation in lower-resource countries is privatised, which first struck me as extractive, as exploiting the poor. But the deeper I looked, the more I saw how a properly built sanitation economy supports livelihoods and delivers toilets at a speed and scale nothing else has managed.
I built the film to resist its genre. I never wanted it to edge towards poverty porn; I wanted to show people with dignity and agency, letting communities tell their own stories rather than narrating their hardship for them. Our narrative guides are people from the countries themselves, with a first-hand connection to what’s at stake. We shot on vintage glass for a warmth that matches the people, not the sombre palette these films often seem to reach for. Where the film shows what’s at stake, it does so through lives being lived, not images of suffering.
The most striking thing I found was the sense of ownership people feel when they invest in a toilet themselves. You’d think receiving one for free would be best, but hearing people speak about the pride of having done it themselves, it was clear this is about empowerment as much as health. The people should get to own the solution.
I hope the film leaves people questioning how they think about those living in low-resource contexts, and how we tackle the world’s biggest problems. I used to think development meant government and charity. Making this showed me there’s a place for profit as a driver of change.
— Oliver Couch, Director