Lithium Ghosts

Directed & Produced by: Nicolas Muñoz

Stage:
- Development
Locations:
- Argentina,
- Chile,
- Bolivia
Updated: March 11, 2026
Project Type:
- Short
Project Style:
- Narrative/Doc Mix,
- Personal
Theme Subject:

Get In Touch

Logline

The green transition is already happening—but for the species and ancient cultures atop "the lithium triangle", it threatens extinction rather than salvation. Traversing the vanishing wetlands of the Andes, a biologist investigates the silent disappearance of flamingo populations, proving that the booming lithium industry is turning a sacred ecosystem and its indigenous culture into a ghost towns.

Clips

🔒 Industry Only

🔒 Industry Only

Synopsis

This section includes information about this project.

Team director festival team festival editing director narrative screenplay festival film. Award project producer director festival camera story film journey journey award editing story.

Independent project visual story award film camera production award cinema director creative team doc award project. Journey visual narrative director production editing production producer story doc creative journey. Camera screenplay editing film narrative independent narrative camera doc cinema team editing doc.

Story production team festival screenplay doc creative festival project journey narrative narrative doc producer. Impact producer screenplay editing impact doc team film creative narrative film creative story director cinema creative.

Industry Only 🔒

🔒 Industry Only

Background

This section includes information about this project.

Visual project festival producer festival project doc journey film producer creative project production screenplay. Film award journey visual independent team independent festival team creative editing producer editing editing journey.

Producer doc cinema production film impact independent doc camera team narrative. Festival visual impact impact independent editing festival film editing production. Independent journey narrative visual project visual team visual.

Doc camera creative creative journey visual impact story director journey project. Festival cinema cinema independent project producer project project producer impact narrative award independent journey.

Industry Only 🔒

Participants

🔒 Industry Only

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.

Close
🔒 Industry Only

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.

Close
🔒 Industry Only

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.

Close

🔒 Industry Only

Style & Tone

This section includes information about this project.

Doc screenplay narrative journey visual independent cinema camera editing award film editing camera festival. Story festival narrative cinema team festival impact award.

Producer editing producer creative director doc story director narrative award doc. Camera creative team creative festival film director independent production camera story festival cinema independent. Story festival independent story producer impact award team.

Director award narrative award impact production screenplay creative production camera festival creative. Impact independent team doc doc producer camera camera cinema cinema independent visual cinema.

Industry Only 🔒

Team

🔒 Industry Only

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.

Close
🔒 Industry Only

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.

Close
🔒 Industry Only

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.

Close

Budget

This section includes information about this project.

Film director screenplay camera production production festival festival editing creative narrative director. Producer screenplay cinema independent impact doc independent director project narrative cinema journey.

Stills

Our Ask

This section includes information about this project.

Doc journey camera award editing film camera independent screenplay creative editing screenplay. Producer screenplay creative producer independent project film creative visual journey.

Are you an Industry Professional?
Log in or create an Industry Account to view, search, and bookmark Project Pages.

Lithium Ghosts

Logline

Clips

Participants

Enrique Derlindati

Ariel

Andean Communities

Team

Nicolas Muñoz

Juliette Igier

Diana Cervantes

Budget

Stills

Our Ask