Mountain of Gold
Roland Edzard / Belgium & France / 2025 / 85 min
With dollar signs in their eyes, gold miners venture into a barren desert landscape, driven by dreams of wealth and a different life. An intense documentary thriller about the gold rush in Niger.
Gold fever has hit northern Niger. Moussa and the other miners have left their former lives behind to pursue the hope of finding gold. Rumors of a new gold vein lead them deep into the hostile landscape of the Sahara. Desert camps are set up and packed down amid hopes and disappointments. Mountain of Gold is nerve-wracking from start to finish, because you never know when – or if – the golden moment will arrive. Often, the calculation ends with barely a gram of gold in hand.
The gold miners play themselves in this hybrid film created by director Roland Edzard, who himself grew up in the Sahara. The film depicts the workers’ daily toil and their big dreams for the future in visually stunning scenes. The hunt for the precious metal takes place in a lawless borderland where hope and despair are constantly intertwined. Perhaps gold glitters behind the next rock, but so does danger.