Your electric car and AI habits might have a “hidden cost” you never expected.
Belgian director Jérôme le Maire is sending shockwaves through social media with his latest documentary, The Price of the Sun (Du soleil et du plomb). The film, which world premieres this Saturday at the Visions du Réel festival in Switzerland, zooms in on a massive moral dilemma: the construction of the world’s largest solar power plant in the deserts of Morocco.
While the plant aims to turn arid land into a “green energy source,” the reality for the local Berber tribe—the indigenous nomadic population—is far from sunny. The project has led to barriers, restricted water access, and a situation where nomads are left with no choice but to work for the very plant that displaced them.
“Ironically, the fight for resource control to connect the world may ultimately destroy a society that, by definition, shares resources,” the film’s press notes highlight. This paradox has sparked a heated conversation on X (Twitter) and TikTok, where users are questioning if “sustainable” progress is worth destroying ancient cultures.
Le Maire didn’t just fly in for a quick shoot. He spent a staggering eight years embedded with the Ait Merghrad community to gain their trust.
“The secret to making this kind of film is to take your time,” le Maire says. “To gain someone’s trust, you have to offer an exchange. I’ll show you who I am, and you show me who you are.”
The director even brought his wife and daughter along during his days of shooting, proving to the tribe that he was there to listen, not just film. He even managed to charm Morocco’s Minister for Energy Transition by ditching protocol for total frankness.
But the most viral takeaway from le Maire’s journey? His blunt stance on “clean” energy.
“Clean energy does not exist,” le Maire insists. “It is sold to us as such so that we consume ever more, without a twinge of conscience. When you use artificial intelligence, when you charge your electric car… there is someone at the other end of the power cable who will be affected.”
The film features harrowing scenes inside unsupervised lead mines, where former shepherds now hammer away at rocks without safety equipment. Le Maire actually went down into the dangerous mines alone with the workers when his crew felt too unsafe to follow.
“I thought of Aziz—just a few months earlier, he was still a shepherd,” the director recalls. “I sincerely hope this film can help improve his situation.”
As for what’s next for the filmmaker who spent a decade in the desert? He’s going off the grid—literally. Le Maire plans to cross the High Atlas mountains on foot with only a mule for company to “disconnect from this fast-paced, talkative world.”
In a world obsessed with the next tech upgrade, The Price of the Sun serves as a viral wake-up call that “saving the planet” might look very different depending on which side of the power line you’re on.
How much would you sacrifice for “green” energy? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!
