Dying for Gold

Showings

TIFF Lightbox 3 Thu, Apr 25, 2019 8:30 PM
Scotiabank Theatre 4 Fri, Apr 26, 2019 12:45 PM
TIFF Lightbox 2 Sun, May 5, 2019 1:00 PM
Film Info
Runtime:98
Copyright:2019
Country Listing:South Africa
Premiere Status:International Premiere
Rating:PG
Festival Info
Festival Year:2019
Language:English
Isixhosa
Sesotho
Shangaan
Siswati
Afrikaans
Accessibility:Partial Subtitles
Program Category:World Showcase
Film Subjects:Africa
Capitalism & Big Business
Families & Family Relationships
Health & Healthcare
Indigenous Cultures & Issues
Labour & Working People
Race & Racism
Website:http://www.dyingforgold.com
Cast/Crew Info
Director(s):Catherine Meyburgh
Richard Pakleppa
Producer(s):Richard Pakleppa
Catherine Meyburgh
Editor(s):Catherine Meyburgh
Cinematography:Richard Pakleppa
Composer:Philip Miller
Sound:Mapula Lehong

Description

When colonial governments discovered gold in South Africa, they coerced hundreds of thousands of Indigenous men to meet their demands for cheap mining labour. Part of a plot to remove Indigenous peoples from their lands, miners were promised a means to provide for their families but instead were met with working conditions that would spark one of the world's largest epidemics of silicosis and tuberculosis. Devastating stories from miners and their families are interspersed against a shockingly vivid archive that exposes over 120 years of this conspiracy. And reaching well into the present, we see how these same Indigenous communities are now reliant on mining incomes for survival. In the wake of a historic 5-billion-rand settlement in South Africa's largest class action lawsuit against mining companies, Dying for Gold invites us to witness the human cost of extractive industries and the murderous legacy of colonization. Nataleah Hunter-Young

World Showcase program sponsored by Delta Air Lines.