In the Colombian capital Bogota’s world famous gold museum guides proudly present the glimmering treasures of indigenous civilizations since long gone. 500 years after the Europeans arrived and ruthlessly killed millions of indigenous people in the search for gold, Colombia is facing a new gold rush. This is a story about gold and about Colombia’s indigenous people - the last defenders of the land.

Colombia has been at war for over half a century. Tens of thousands have been killed and millions forced to flee their homes. Mining is the fastest

growing sector of the Colombian economy and Colombia’s gold production tripled between 2006 and 2009. But most of the country’s gold is still unexplored and with global gold prices rising with over 30 percent a year the rush is on. Armed groups clear the land of its inhabitants and transnational corporations are lining up to exploit the resources lying under the indigenous territories. This quest for a new El Dorado pushes the indigenous peoples deeper into the forests or force them to leave their ancestral lands for cold and shanty towns of Bogotá.

Despite their vulnerability, the indigenous peoples have become the strongest opposition force in Colombia. When the indigenous guards patrol their territories with symbolic guardian sticks as only weapons, they are the last resistance against an economic model who wants to turn mountains and jungles into gold mines.

The story about the indigenous peoples of Colombia is not only about gold. It is the universal story about how the destiny of living on soil filled with treasure turns into a curse. But gold is not just any commodity – it’s the ultimate symbol of wealth and a glimmering material full of associations, myths and legends.

A conflict is like a puzzle consisting of countless pieces relating to one other: people, stories, natural resources, armed groups and myths. Our narrative follows, therefore, a fragmented form in which scenes of various geographical rooms, together, form a mosaic of images and voices.