About the film

China’s Belt and Road investment in the Balkans and Southeast Europe.

In recent years, Chinese investment has poured into Southeast Europe, bringing urgently needed development financing—and new political and economic questions. Across the Balkans, massive infrastructure projects promise growth and connectivity, often in countries struggling to attract Western capital. 

"Tinderbox, Belt & Road" goes inside the conditions attached to this investment, examining concerns around governance, labor standards, debt, and democratic accountability. As part of China’s global Belt and Road Initiative, these projects reflect an approach already deployed in Africa and Latin America, now extending deep into Europe’s southeastern edge. 

From copper mines in eastern Serbia to Montenegro’s billion-dollar highway to nowhere, the film follows the front lines of China’s expanding economic footprint in Europe, asking what this growing influence means for the region’s future.