Film description

A unique documentary made by a filmmaker familiar to Five Flavours audiences in the mountains of northern Burma. It's a region inhabited by many ethnic groups entangled in a civil war. It is because of the war that the authorities decided to close the jade mines, stretching for hundreds of kilometers throughout the region. Yet the value of the green stone attracts hundreds of workers, prepared to risk their life and health to get it.

The place was too dangerous for the director to travel to for a sufficient period of time, so he gave the camera to the miners themselves, who took the small piece of equipment with them. The footage they brought gives a lively and direct insight in their every-day reality – the hard, tiresome work, adrenaline rushes coming with a hope of a discovery, resting in temporary shelters, serious debates on the flavor of the simple food made together, and calls from children demanding money for a computer course. The director's commentary is made almost solely through the choice of material – this rough, intimate form makes it even more powerful.

Jagoda Murczyńska