Morichales

"In the deliberately chosen style of an old-fashioned field report, a fictional explorer describes his observations on gold-mining in Venezuela. His mission takes him along the Orinoco, from remote jungle mines to industrial zones. His focus stays on the workers and their environment. The titular Moriche palm tree, an edible and crop plant growing along the river, serves as an example for the relationship between humans and nature and their use of raw materials. Paradoxically, the gold-diggers live in harmony with Mother Earth as their nourisher and healer, but at the same time destroy her. As in so many other places in the world, their very survival depends on an economic system inherited from colonialism. The rapid pace of capitalism is in glaring contradiction to the arduous extraction of the gold dust, produced only by slow processes of erosion.
As the narrator drifts along the river and meditates on different contexts, the images work their way through the layers of the complex subject. The immersive poetic journey alternates between observational Bolex shots, hand-drawn illustrations and abstract visualisations of photochemical reactions. Accompanied by a sound design both distinct and elaborate, the lustre of the gold literally glitters from the screen."
(Annina Wettstein - DOK Leipzig)

En la Guayana Venezolana se encuentran grandes reservas de oro escondidas bajo las palmeras de "moriche", atrayendo multitudes de mineros a ese territorio. Un narrador viaja desde lejanas minas en la selva hasta las riberas del Río Orinoco, intentando comprender la incierta fortuna del minero. Sus reflexiones combinan ilustraciones y pinturas fotoquímicas para trazar un mapa de la minería y comercialización del oro en Venezuela, mientras que cuestiona la relación extractivista del hombre con la naturaleza. Filmado a lo largo de trece años, Morichales es un viaje profundo dentro del territorio más disputado del país, inmerso en la ansiosa búsqueda del oro.
In Venezuelan Guayana, large gold reserves lie beneath "moriche" palms, attracting miners from across the region. A narrator travels from far-flung mines in the jungle to the banks of the Orinoco River, trying to understand the uncertain fortune of the miner. His reflections combine illustrations and photochemical paintings to draw a map of the mining and commercialization of gold in Venezuela while also questioning humankind’s extractivist relationship with nature. Filmed over the course of thirteen years, Morichales is a journey deep into the most disputed territory of the country, immersed in the anxious quest for gold.