Doc on Jewish film-maker and his wife as they tackle the dark world of debt

A Jewish film-maker and his artist wife team up to tackle the dark world of debt in their thought-provoking documentary, The Bank Job, which is released in cinemas next week. 

 Dan Edelstyn and Hilary Powell embarked on a journey to highlight how the financial system has pushed us all to live in a world that operates on credit.

Inspired by the Strike Debt movement in the US, which aims to cancel all student debt, the pair decided to set up a bank in Walthamstow, print their own money with the faces of local heroes and use the proceeds to purchase £1.2 million of debt that they could write off – or, in this case, blow up. 

In an interview earlier this year with Jewish News, Edelstyn said of his idea: “We know the debt buy isn’t a solution, but it’s a lightning rod to expose the shadows of the financial system, the secondary markets and the injustices of the economy.”

The Bank Job is released in selected cinemas from Friday, 28 May, www.bankjob.pictures