Sven Zellner Photography & Film, Price of Gold documentary, Mongolia, Ninjas - gold rush with the Mongolian Nomads, Preis des Goldes, Kino Dokumentarfilm, Mongolei Nomaden Goldrausch

Ninjas Gold rush Mongolia- copyright 2016 Sven Zellner/Agentur Focus

Price Of Gold Film - copyright 2013 Sven Zellner/Agentur Focus

The New York Times

MOVIE REVIEW

Nomads Looking for Leftovers, the Precious Kind
‘Price of Gold’ Follows Mongolian Prospectors

By JEANNETTE CATSOULIS

For more than a decade, Mongolian nomads have been illegally prospecting for gold in the Gobi Desert, gleaning the leftovers of the international mining companies that own the mineral rights. In “Price of Gold,” the directors Sven Zellner and Chingunjav Borkhuu observe a ragtag crew of five of these wildcatters, piecing together a noncommittal, occasionally surreal portrait of hardscrabble lives and omnipresent risk.

“We take what is ours,” one worker says, his attitude hovering somewhere between shame and defiance. Crudely equipped with battered shovels, an ancient drill and a wheezing, hand-cranked compressor, the crew digs and bickers. Downtime is spent wrestling one another and harassing the cheerful woman who cooks for them (and who has the foresight to hide their knives when they drink). The illicit nature of the work requires bribes of vodka to the police and to possible informants; but, as we see, there are more pressing dangers.

Against a background of saffron dust and violet mountains, Mr. Zellner’s camera peers into a terrifyingly narrow mine shaft and watches as a worker packs dynamite, a cigarette dangling nonchalantly from his lips. Fingers paddling in the mercury that’s used to loosen gold from rock, another man patiently sifts sludge for signs of glinting particles. With few alternative means of generating income, the crew members are pragmatic about the hazards of an operation held together with spit and string, and our explosives specialist isn’t stressed.

“It’s better to die serenely,” he says, confidently. If you say so.

PRICE OF GOLD

ARTE-Dokumentarfilmpreis 2016

director/ editor/ cinematographer: Sven Zellner

co-director: Chingunjav Borkhuu

HotDocs Film Festival 2016· Toronto, Beldocs 2016· Belgrade, FILMFEST MÜNCHEN 2016· Munich · NEUES DEUTSCHES KINO, Brooklyn Film Festival New York, Duisburger Filmwoche 2016, Dokfilmwoche Hamburg 2013, Maximilian Plettau NOMINAL FILM Documentary & Feature Film Production Bayerischer Rundfunk | FFF FilmFernsehFonds Bayern

There’s a gold rush in Mongolia, and much like the North American gold rushes at the turn of the 20th century, it has become a capitalist free-for-all where concern for the individual or the environment takes a backseat to the profit margin. Foreign corporations have mined the Mongolian land, but now close to 100.000 rogue Mongolian nomads, known as Ninjas, have begun prospecting for the leftovers. Small independent crews, without the aid of modern technology or equipment, risk their lives digging for a small piece of the action. It’s their land, after all, and they want in on the profit. Price of Gold follows a crew of brave and desperate Ninjas on their illegal digs in the Gobi desert. Stunning cinematography illustrates the vast landscape and claustrophobic conditions of the DIY mines navigated by the determination, ingenuity and utter insanity of this remarkable crew. Lynne Crocker

Price of Gold Film - Sven Zellner

Mongolian Disco Exhibition 2014 New York

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Mongolian Nomads | South Gobi Desert | Mongolia | Asia

nomadic children | South Gobi Desert | Mongolia | Asia

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Delayed Gratification Teer Sheet Sven Zellner

GEO 02/2016

Delayed Gratification Teer Sheet Sven Zellner

GEO 02/2016

Delayed Gratification Teer Sheet Sven Zellner

GEO 02/2016

Delayed Gratification Teer Sheet Sven Zellner

GEO 02/2016

Delayed Gratification Teer Sheet Sven Zellner

GEO 02/2016

Delayed Gratification Teer Sheet Sven Zellner

GEO 02/2016

Delayed Gratification Teer Sheet Sven Zellner

GEO 02/2016

Delayed Gratification Teer Sheet Sven Zellner

GEO 02/2016

Delayed Gratification Teer Sheet Sven Zellner

Delayed Gratification

Delayed Gratification Teer Sheet Sven Zellner

Delayed Gratification

Delayed Gratification Teer Sheet Sven Zellner

Delayed Gratification

Delayed Gratification Teer Sheet Sven Zellner