Lithium Ghosts
- Directed & Produced by: Nicolas Muñoz
- Stage:
- Locations:
- Updated: August 21, 2026
- Project Type:
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Logline
To power our smartphones and EVs, the 'green' lithium boom is stripping the Argentine Andes of its water and ancient cultures. Now, a dedicated biologist and local activists face a race against time to expose this devastating trade-off and stop the destruction before it's too late.
Clips
Participants
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Enrique Derlindati
Scientific Lead & Protagonist
Participant
Enrique Derlindati
Scientific Lead & Protagonist
Dr. Derlindati is a Professor of Conservation Biology at the National University of Salta and a member of the IUCN Flamingo Specialist Group. With over 30 years of fieldwork in the High Andes, he is considered one of the world’s leading authorities on the Andean and Puna flamingos. His research, supported by organizations like WCS and BirdLife International, provides the critical ecological baseline to understand the impact of lithium extraction on wetlands. In Lithium Ghosts, Enrique acts not just as a consultant, but as the narrative guide—a "detective of the wild" racing to decode the language of the birds before their habitat is silenced forever. -
Ariel
ARIEL | The Salt Harvester
Participant
Ariel
ARIEL | The Salt Harvester
Ariel is a generational salt harvester in Salinas Grandes, Jujuy, maintaining an ancestral trade that predates modern industry. Living on the edge of the great white desert with his wife, Vanesa, and their three children, he carves his livelihood manually from the earth.
For Ariel, the salar is not a resource, but a home. Witnessing the rapid encroachment of multinational lithium mining, he has become a quiet but firm voice of concern for his community. His struggle is intimate and existential: he fights to ensure that the water—and the future of his children—does not evaporate along with the lithium. -
Andean Communities
THE ANDEAN COMMUNITIES | Guardians of the Water
Participant
Andean Communities
THE ANDEAN COMMUNITIES | Guardians of the Water
Inhabiting the high-altitude deserts of Argentina, Chile, and Bolivia for millennia, the Kolla and Atacama indigenous nations are not merely residents, but integral parts of the ecosystem. To them, the salt flats are living entities, and water is the sacred blood of the earth (Pachamama). Facing the rapid industrialization of their territories for the world’s "green transition," they stand as the frontline defenders of the Puna. Their resistance is not just political, but spiritual: a fight to ensure that the global rush for lithium does not erase their ancient past, nor the fragile biodiversity they have protected for centuries.
Team
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Nicolas Muñoz
Director & Producer
Team
Nicolas Muñoz
Director & Producer
Nicolás Muñoz Documentary Filmmaker & DOP | Buenos Aires, Argentina He studied photography and cinematography at ORT schools, later specializing in documentary filmmaking at INA (France), and honing his craft at UBA (Argentina) and Maine Media College (USA). At age 24, after graduating from film school, he began a 13-year career as a correspondent for Associated Press Television. Covering breaking news across Latin America and beyond, Muñoz reported from extraordinary places and captured urgent, human-centered stories. In 2014, with two young children, he made the difficult decision to leave the news world—stepping away from a stable path into one that was more uncertain, especially financially. He shifted his focus from news to longform documentary work, channeling his journalistic experience into a visual storytelling style that blends strong imagery, emotion, and narrative clarity—even in complex or sensitive environments. In 2018, he won Best Adventure Film at the Banff Film Festival in Canada. Since then, his work has continued to evolve across formats and platforms, earning recognition such as the Sony World Photography Award in 2024 and becoming a Sony Alpha Partner. Today, he collaborates with NGOs, broadcasters, and institutions to tell grounded, human-centered stories with lasting impact. His work explores the intersections of social justice, environmental crisis, and resilience. With a deeply personal approach and a collaborative mindset, Muñoz often works directly with communities to amplify their voices and build powerful narratives from the ground up. -
Juliette Igier
Field Producer & Investigative Journalist
Team
Juliette Igier
Field Producer & Investigative Journalist
A distinguished journalist and filmmaker with decades of experience covering social and environmental justice across Argentina and Latin America. Juliette has a proven track record of bringing complex, high-stakes investigations to international audiences. She previously work together with Nico Muñoz on the acclaimed documentary Orphans of Lake Poopó (Orphelins du lac Poopó) for ARTE France, a project that showcased her ability to blend rigorous journalism with compelling human narratives. With a deep-rooted understanding of the region’s socio-political landscape, Juliette provides critical investigative depth and a bridge to major European broadcasters for Lithium Ghosts. -
Diana Cervantes
Impact & Transmedia Producer
Team
Diana Cervantes
Impact & Transmedia Producer
Award-winning visual journalist (New York/New Mexico) specializing in science-based stories and interspecies relationships. Her work, recognized by the New Mexico Press Association, bridges the gap between hard data and storytelling. Diana will lead the Podcast component and scientific reportage. -
Madeline Finkel
Story Editor & Creative Consultant
Team
Madeline Finkel
Story Editor & Creative Consultant
I am a writer, artist, and filmmaker based in New York currently completing my MFA in Film at NYU Tisch. As a Fulbright scholar to Argentina in 2019, I directed my first documentary. My most recent work was recognized by the British Council for the Arts and One World Media which named her one of "14 filmmakers to watch." She has produced work for ARTEtv, NOWNESS, the Barbican Centre London, and others. -
Jean Garner
Executive Producer
Team
Jean Garner
Executive Producer
Jean is an Academy Award-nominated Executive Producer, Commissioning Editor, and seasoned journalist with over three decades of high-stakes international media experience. A winner of a Peabody Award, two International Emmys, and a Murrow Award, she brings world-class editorial oversight and global industry connectivity to Lithium Ghosts. She served for a decade as the Senior Executive Producer for Al Jazeera English’s flagship documentary strand, Witness, overseeing over 400 documentaries. Her Executive Producer credits include the Oscar-nominated documentary short Chau, Beyond the Lines and the Emmy-winning Witness series. Jean ensures the project meets the highest international editorial standards and distribution viability.
Budget
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Screenplay director journey cinema producer journey team film screenplay impact award. Editing screenplay story editing team independent editing editing cinema camera project festival creative screenplay screenplay visual.
Rights
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Stills
Our Ask
We are seeking a strategic partner to help secure fundings to greenlight our Principal Photography (Oct 2026 – Feb 2027).
Current Status: You are stepping into a project that is ready to execute.
International Co-Producers: To scale the transmedia ecosystem and feature-length architecture.
Foundations & Brand Sponsors: Leveraging our partnership with Fundación Marejada as our official fiscal sponsor to unlock, receive, and administer private philanthropic grants and corporate ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) funding.
Foundations & Brand Sponsors: Leveraging our partnership with Fundación Marejada as our official fiscal sponsor to unlock, receive, and administer private philanthropic grants and corporate ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) funding.
Broadcast & Streaming Partners: To secure 2027 global distribution and pre-sales.
WHY NOW?
Every season we lose brings us closer to a point of no return.
If we miss another season, lithium operations will expand further across the salt flats. The flamingos are already moving farther away — and may eventually disappear.
But this is not only about wildlife. As water sources and livelihoods vanish, communities are leaving their ancestral villages behind.
The ghosts of lithium are not only the traces left on the salt flats. They are the people, animals, and ways of life slowly disappearing with them.
There is still time to document what is happening. But not forever.
We are seeking:
- Funding,
- International Co-Production,
- Broadcast Partner
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