On the Edge of Gold

Penedo, a tiny community in the middle of Brazilian Amazon, is home to the stories of men and women whose lives are intertwined with the illegal practices of gold extraction, which can be brutal and life threatening both for humans as well as nature.

People from various regions of Brazil come to Penedo in search of gold and dreams for a better life. Lost in the deafening noise of machines and miners, one of the poorest communities of the country keep themselves busy with extracting and processing gold - the symbol of wealth and prosperity. Considered as lawbreakers and criminals, these people, have never had an opportunity to do anything else but what they do – inflict damage on nature for their own survival.

This is an intense and robust observational cinema about workers in the gold mining. It sometimes breaks the rule by having people talk to the camera, but it's not a reproach. We get really good access to the protagonists, a portrait of a very complete universe, where lives are linked by economy.