30. Film Festival della Lessinia
Bosco Chiesanuova (Italia)
23 August - 1 September 2024

In Burkina Faso, in the Bantara gold mining site, a group of teenagers arm themselves with pickaxes and, from sunrise until late at night, work at a depth of over 100 meters in the artisanal mines. Minors, in precarious conditions and without safety devices, are determined to reach for the gold, feeding abundant quantities to the "white-men's cars". Boubacar Sangaré creates an extraordinary bond with the miners, in particular with Rasmané, capturing his fears and conversations with the supervisors, but also the rare moments of leisure with colleagues in which they share aspects of their lives and their aspirations. In a place that shines with gold and hope for a brighter future, the denunciation of the exploitation of resources and labour speaks all the louder. It is not geopolitics that speaks, but rather the voices, thoughts, and sweat of these young people, which push them towards a desire for emancipation that makes them adults before their time.

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  Boubacar Sangaré

  Boubacar Sangaré was born in 1985 in Mali. He earned degrees in both law and cinema, specializing in film law.

  He is the author of short films and co-director of a television production on the insurrection in Burkina Faso. In 2022 he shot Or de vie, which marked his feature film debut.

  He worked as project manager for Africa at the Center National du Cinéma et de l'İmage Animée. He works to give a legal structure to the audiovisual market in West Africa.