Put up Your Hands(1919)

Woman of the North Country(en)

In 1890 Minnesota Christine Powell is the scheming head of the Powell dynasty, the richest mining empire of the era. But the Powell mine deposits are diminishing. The Mesabi range represents a whole new productive area but the rights to mine there are held by a young geological engineer, Kyle Ramlo. The latter reaches an impasse when he needs money to continue his experimentation with open-pit mining and goes to Miss Powell for financing. She displays great interest in both his inventive mining method and in him personally but secretly plots to destroy him and take over his Masabi rights. The gullible Ramlo falls into clutches while the girl he really loves, Cathy Norlund, tries desperately to open his eyes to Christine's scheme.

Schröders wunderbare Welt(de)

A gigantic investment project brings assistant Frank Schröder back to his home, the border triangle. Torn between appropriation, small-mindedness and rivalries, his plan for a major collaboration threatens to fail. But Schröder does not give up and manages to turn things around. But then his boss wants to go wolf hunting.

World of Tomorrow(en)

A little girl is taken on a mind-bending tour of her distant future.

The Last Glacier(fr)

A docudrama on the closing of the town of Schefferville. When Raoul loses his job at the mine because the operations are ending, he's been settled there for ten years with Carmen and their son. They're now forced to leave the town, leaving behind the traces of an ephemeral prosperity.

Wildrose(en)

June Lorich works at the Mesabi Mine on Minnesota's iron range. After an emotionally and physically abusive marriage, June is determined to make it on her own. But the worsening steel industry forces major cutbacks and June is bumped down to an all-male pit. She becomes the brunt of the other workers' hostilities and is forced to fight against them -- and the man she loves -- to save her job.

Paint Your Wagon(en)

A Michigan farmer and a prospector form a partnership in the California gold country. Their adventures include buying and sharing a wife, hijacking a stage, kidnapping six prostitutes, and turning their mining camp into a boom town. Along the way there is plenty of drinking, gambling, and singing. They even find time to do some creative gold mining.

The Painted Desert(en)

Western pardners Jeff and Cash find a baby boy in an otherwise deserted emigrants' camp, and clash over which is to be "father." They are still bitterly feuding years later when they own adjacent ranches. Bill, the foundling whom Cash has raised to young manhood, wants to end the feud and extends an olive branch toward Jeff, who now has a lovely daughter. But during a mining venture, the bitterness escalates. Is Bill to be set against his own adoptive father?

Fire at the Mine(fr)

The 33(en)

Based on the true story of the collapse of a mine in San Jose, Chile—that left 33 miners isolated underground for 69 days.

Strange Colours(en)

Milena travels to a remote opal mining community to see her estranged, ill father. Lost and alone, she falls into his bewildering world, where men escape society and share ideals of freedom. Soon, he doesn’t want her to leave. Stuck in time, father and daughter try to mend their fractured bond, but their connection is fragile, like the strange, colourful gems he digs up from the earth.

Das Wunder von Lengede(de)

The film is based on the events surrounding the Lengede mining accident in 1963.

Where the Green Ants Dream(de)

The Australian Aborigines (in this film anyway) believe that this is the place where the green ants go to dream, and that if their dreams are disturbed, it will bring down disaster on us all. The Aborigines' belief is not shared by a giant mining company, which wants to tear open the soil and search for uranium.

The Heart of the Earth(es)

Tensions mount in an Andalusia mining town between local Spanish workers and their British employers.

Lonig & Havendel(de)

To see snow and learn German, the young Vietnamese girl Trúc Lâm (Nano Nguyen) moves to a small town in the middle of the Erzgebirge mountains in Saxony. She is fascinated by the forest, the mountains and the clear air that smells of clouds and winter and burns her nose when she breathes it in - for which she is mocked by her classmates. On a trip to a mine, she gets lost in the labyrinth of dark shafts and suddenly emerges on the other side of the mountain. This world is almost identical to the old one - but the characters have been replaced. In the town on the other side, she meets Duc (Tri An Bui), the son of a Vietnamese family who run an Asian snack bar. And while Duc tries to find a balance between his German-Vietnamese heritage and the expectations of others, Trúc Lâm accepts the help of a ghost to find her way back into her world.

Malartic(fr)

Ten years after an enormous open-pit gold mine began operations in Malartic, the hoped-for economic miracle is nothing more than a mirage. Filmmaker Nicolas Paquet explores the glaring contrast between the town’s decline and the wealth of the mining company, along with the mechanisms of an opaque decision-making system in which ordinary people have little say. Part anthropological study, part investigation into the corridors of power, Malartic addresses the fundamental issue of sustainable and fair land management.

Over Silent Paths(en)

In the heart of the American west, a miner toils day after day at his rocker box while his young daughter keeps his camp. His daughter persuades him to return to civilization, where they may enjoy the fruits of their labor. Both are happy in the anticipation of what seems a bright future. While she's away, a desert wanderer appears at the camp, and at the sight of the old man weighing his gold is seized with cupidity. He himself had toiled long in the wilds, but with no success, so he demands that the old man divide his gains with him. This, of course, the miner decries, and the wanderer uses force to obtain the old man's gold. The wanderer collapses in the desert, only to be rescued by a certain young woman: the miner's daughter.

Gold(en)

Kenny Wells, a modern-day prospector, hustler, and dreamer, is desperate for a lucky break. Left with few options, Wells teams up with an equally luckless geologist to execute a grandiose, last-ditch effort: to find gold deep in the uncharted jungle of Indonesia.

Fighting Mad(en)

An evil corporation tries to pressure a bunch of Arkansas farmers and ranchers to sell their land so they can strip-mine it for coal. The fiercely proud and stubborn Hunter family refuse to give in. This leads to a bitter conflict that results in several casualties. Eventually the take-charge no-nonsense Tom Hunter exacts a harsh revenge on the villains with the help of his bow and arrow.

The Miners of Donetsk(ru)

A miners in Donbass embrace new technologies with enthusiasm.

Margaret's Museum(en)

In a town where half the men die down the coalpit, Margaret MacNeil is quite happy being single in her small Cape Breton island town. Until she meets Neil Currie, a charming and sincere bagpipe-playing, Gaelic-speaking dishwasher. But no matter what you do, you can't avoid the spectre of the pit forever.