We Are Zama Zama

Synopsis

In South Africa’s abandoned mines, men scrabble for gold, using hand hammers and bicycle head-lamps, often remaining underground for days, often without food. Their survival is dependent on their hands – and luck. They are gamblers, or Zama Zama, who hope to scrounge a living from exhausted veins despite crumbling mineshafts and criminal overlords because at home in Zimbabwe they have nothing, there is nothing. The video footage is shot by miners with GoPros and in spite of harrowing conditions, we see uplifting camaraderie, caring collaboration and inspiring good cheer, as we are taken into their subterranean lives, guided by director-producer-anthropologist Rosalind Morris. Above ground, they smile. Gangsters prey on them, and the women cough from the glass-like dust of the rocks they crush by hand. But still they smile. An extraordinary story of human endurance, not to be missed.

Main Cast

Crew

Department	Role	Name
Directing	Director	Rosalind Morris
Production	Producer	Rosalind Morris
Crew	Cinematography	Ebrahim Hajee
Sound	Sound Designer	Musa Radebe
	Music	Mar Heredia Lee Salevan
Editing	Editor	Pascal Troemel
Department	Role	Name

Join the discussion