Portugal
100′39″, 2024.
DIRECTED BY
Takashi Sugimoto
PRODUCED BY
Filipa Reis
SCRIPTWRITER
Takashi Sugimoto
CINEMATOGRAPHER
Rui Xavier
EDITED BY
Rita Pestana, Luisa Homem
In a deep rural area of southern India, the powerful Hindu deity Balaji has a strong influence on Saraswathi. Like many women in her village, she combs the long dark hair of her young daughters in a daily ritual. Excess hair gains monetary value when the Narikurava, an outcast bird-hunting tribe, visit the villages to collect hair in exchange for household items. Black Gold is human hair. One day, Saraswathi decides to offer her precious long hair to the deity Balaji in a temple to fulfil a wish. Again, someone somewhere in the world profits from her spiritual act.
Takashi Sugimoto studied photography in Italy at the Istituto Europeo di Design in Turin, did an internship at the Magnum photo agency in Paris and has a postgraduate degree in dramaturgy and directing from the Escola Superior de Teatro e Cinema in Lisbon. Selected for the “100 young Italian artists - FURLA per l'arte” in 2000. He received the Best Image award by AIP at the IndieLisboa Festival 2011.