Coming to NYC’s Maysles Cinema today, Monday, September 16: PRICE OF GOLD
Sven Zellner’s look at the dangerous world of Mongolian gold miners made its world premiere at Hot Docs last year. It went on to screen at the Brooklyn Film Festival, Belgrade’s Beldocs, Filmfest München, and DocuWest, among others.
For the past decade, Mongolian gold-digging nomads – colloquially known as “ninjas” – have sidestepped laws and their personal beliefs to seek what little profit they can from the Gobi Desert. Mineral rights have long ago been sold to and exploited by foreign companies, and the work locally is viewed as taboo, but in a region with few other opportunities, these rough-and-ready men find no choice but to subject themselves to the degraded and dangerous work, which takes months and involves toxic mercury and dynamite. Resigned to their fate, these men – only one woman is present, a put-upon cook – are followed for months by Zellner as they risk their lives for negligible profits, his camera impressively allowing viewers to experience the claustrophobic conditions they face. While the ambivalence and shame the ninjas express about their activities is intriguing, this is never explored in much depth, leaving the film without a strong enough impact beyond its exposure of an unusual and desperate practice.
what (not) to doc 