For What It’s Worth, 2022

In the darkness of a gold mine, Filipino workers drill narrow tunnels. Heavy bags of gold ore are dragged through these tunnels. Above the ground that ore is crushed and refined. There seems to come no end to the dangerous work. 

At the same time, in the shadow of an old Greek forest, environmental activists protest together against the construction of an open pit gold mine. They make banners, plan actions, have long discussions and get involved in a fight with the national police. At night, some activists remind an ancient Greek myth and a local goat gets lost in the forest.

Meanwhile in Belgium scientists operate hypermodern microscopes. The environment is sterile and the work is partly automated. Powerful lenses, computers and electron microscopes dig up images from an abstract world of atoms. 

Through a meticulous editing of documentary images, fictional narratives and abstract passage, the film explores the meaning of value, with the symbolic gold at its core.

SUPPORTED BY THE FLANDERS AUDIOVISUAL FUND (VAF) OF THE GOVERNMENT OF FLANDERS