Dying for Gold

Synopsis

For over 120 years hundreds of thousands of black men from the countries of Southern Africa have left their families to dig for gold and produce the wealth of South Africa. Today these mining communities face severe poverty and the world's greatest epidemic of silicosis and tuberculosis caused by exposure to silica dust in gold mines. The true cost of South Africa's wealth is revealed by the juxta-positioning of present day gold miner stories with an archival voice created from state and mining records and repurposed industrial documentaries and propaganda films. The archival voice further reveals the untold story of how industrialised South Africa was built on a foundation of modern slavery based on a vast system of recruitment that utilized propaganda films since the early 1900's. Dying for Gold is also a story of mad love that holds men, women and children through experiences of unspeakable pain and death.