In person: Andri Snær Magnason!

Hoping to get the multinational Alcoa Aluminum Corporation to build a giant plant in western Iceland, the government promised to build the largest dam in all of Europe to provide Alcoa with cheap electric power. Despite many warnings from various positions, the project went ahead—until the country’s economic collapse in 2008 left an unfinished project, serious environmental damage and massive debt. The documentary Dreamland looks at the Alcoa case within the context of Iceland’s economic history since its independence from Denmark in 1918, tracing a series of government stimulus projects that were sold on fear but rarely performed as they were predicted. An insightful look at the causes and consequences of short-sighted economic planning.