All that remains of the gold-bearing mountain above Kalsaka, once the site of a traditional holy place, is a ragged crater emitting toxins that threaten drinking water. The gold is gone and the villagers, who worked for foreign miners for 5 years, have lost their livelihood. They could return to what supported them from time immemorial – working the land – if only there were any uncontaminated soil left. Meeting this situation, filmmaker Michel K. Zongo allows the villagers to tell of where their trust in the false promises of foreigners and their own politicians alike has led them. This retrospective narrative, combining elements of local folklore with the stylisation of westerns, fluidly links the past with the dismal present-day, when the golden gateway to the future has collapsed.
- Year2019
- Runtime80 minutes
- LanguageFrench
- CountryBurkina Faso, Germany
- DirectorMichel K. Zongo
- ProducerFlorian Schewe, Michel K. Zongo
All that remains of the gold-bearing mountain above Kalsaka, once the site of a traditional holy place, is a ragged crater emitting toxins that threaten drinking water. The gold is gone and the villagers, who worked for foreign miners for 5 years, have lost their livelihood. They could return to what supported them from time immemorial – working the land – if only there were any uncontaminated soil left. Meeting this situation, filmmaker Michel K. Zongo allows the villagers to tell of where their trust in the false promises of foreigners and their own politicians alike has led them. This retrospective narrative, combining elements of local folklore with the stylisation of westerns, fluidly links the past with the dismal present-day, when the golden gateway to the future has collapsed.
- Year2019
- Runtime80 minutes
- LanguageFrench
- CountryBurkina Faso, Germany
- DirectorMichel K. Zongo
- ProducerFlorian Schewe, Michel K. Zongo