Dying for Gold: workshop and film screening on justice for mineworkers in Southern Africa

Welcome to a screening of the documentary Dying for Gold and a workshop with co-director Catherine Meyburgh in Stockholm on 27 June, highlighting mining’s deadly legacy and ongoing struggles for justice in Southern Africa.

The workshop on engaged documentary filmmaking will take place at Solidaritetshuset, 10.00–13.00. Later the same day, the documentary Dying for Gold, co-directed by Catherine Meyburgh and Richard Pakleppa, will be screened at Biocafé Tellus, 18.00–20.45

More information about tickets and how to register can be found in the two links below.

• Workshop: 10.00 - 13.00 Världsbiblioteket, Solidaritetshuset. Info and register:
• Film screening: 18.00 - 20.45 Biocafé Tellus. Info and tickets can be found at Biocafé Tellus webpage. Länk till annan webbplats.

About the film Dying for Gold

Dying for Gold examines how South Africa’s wealth has been built over the past 120 years by more than five million black men recruited from across Southern Africa to work in gold mines.

The film shows how gold mining has been closely linked to illness and death since the discovery of gold in 1886. Today, mining communities in South Africa, Mozambique, Swaziland, Lesotho and Botswana are affected by what is described as the world’s largest epidemic of silicosis and tuberculosis, caused by prolonged exposure to dust in the mines.

Through personal testimonies from mining families alongside archival material from corporations and state institutions, Dying for Gold traces how the gold industry has shaped South Africa’s political economy. It highlights a continuing legacy of poverty, illness and inequality, and tells the story of the country’s largest class action case, in which gold miners accused their former employers of systemic neglect. Although a settlement was reached in 2018, many former miners and their families are still seeking fair compensation.

About Catherine Meyburgh

Catherine Meyburgh is based in Johannesburg and works as a director, editor and producer across documentary, fiction film and television. Her work in multi-projection design has been shown at venues including the Met Opera in New York and La Scala in Milan. She has edited more than 30 documentaries broadcast by Arte, Channel 4, BBC Storyville, ZDF, SABC and NBC, and presented at international festivals such as IDFA, DIFF and Berlinale. Her video installations have also been exhibited at institutions including dOKUMENTA, WAM, Iziko Cape Town and the Smithsonian.

The events are organised in collaboration with the interdisciplinary research project “On trans-national connections of the Swedish public pension system: creative documentation and learning as a form of climate action”, led by mirko nikolić at Aesthetics, school of culture and education, and is funded by Formas.