Tourmalines from Madagascar documentary of Patrick Voillot
Tourmalines from Madagascar documentary of Patrick Voillot
English : https://youtu.be/52dXyx5ufyo
Deutsch : https://youtu.be/GTR1gIBEZpY
French : https://youtu.be/aQqRCEyTvvM
Italian : https://youtu.be/n7zBYoopy2Y
Spanish : https://youtu.be/_8lGWkyrrxY
Chinese : https://youtu.be/Zk0OzFB8NeA
Russian : https://youtu.be/yfXJcx76ev4
Japanese : https://youtu.be/NsaxwfmFVMI
The Red Island was the name given to Madagascar by sailors approaching its shores. Few are the places as rich or superior in gemstones.
This film takes you through the island as an explorer or more accurately, as a prospector.
You’ll cross the desert near the Isalo National Park, inhabited by several species of lemurs.
In the midst of this seemingly endless road, a village becomes a city, Illakaka, where men, women and children are seeking sapphires. You will penetrate into the world of these miners; discover their joys, their sorrows and disappointments; but also their discoveries. When they are lucky, these findings are multicolored sapphires, or other fascinating gems.
Their fortune however is not always in the mission of this work. Men prefer to lose everything and return to their families in other parts of Madagascar.
You will be alongside some of them in a bush taxi that brings them back to a small village, situated on the highlands a few hours from Antsirabe. This isolated hamlet of the world lives in autarky, from generation to generation.
A few houses have been constructed; live animals are raised; schools where children learn to read and write; and a few buildings encompass the composition of this self-sufficient community.
The Characters…. they are more characters than inhabitants living in this village. There is the chief Gabi, the sorcerer, the schoolmaster, and the villagers who live together in perfect harmony.
They eat mostly rice for nourishment, as is part of their culture, but when the need arises, tourmaline mines are near, and they can easily go out and dig for beautiful crystals.
With this film, you will dive into the lives of the researchers who use the crowbar, but also witchcraft to find these tourmaline crystals. They are often bicolor, green on one end, pink on the other.
These discoveries will be sold to some buyers, or taken to the nearest town to be sold in the market.
In this film you will discover the various intermediaries that allow these tourmalines to reach the cutting workshops of Antananarivo.
Finally, selected and cut gems will adorn the creations of jeweler Jean Vendome, and we will open the doors of his studio for you.