What do the Yukon wilderness, a temple in Thailand, elephant in India; the Ashante tribe in Africa and a mine in northern Ontario have in common? Gold!
Gold Fever takes the audience on a glittering trip around the world, focusing on the cultural, economic and historical significance of the “eternal element.”
“Gold is the catalyst which links various cultures of the world together in this film,’ says Director David Lickely (3D 70mm Shooting Star), whose large format crew filmed different manifestations of gold from modern methods of gold exploration to the ancient art of lost wax goldsmithing method. The film is not only an adventure for the audience, but also for the film crew who shot from the dizzying heights of a helicopter over the Yukon mountains to a mile underground, dropping their camera in a spectacular free fall down a mine shaft where no large format camera has gone before.
From the historical Klondike gold rush to a contemporary prospector exploring for gold from a helicopter, Gold Fever takes the audience to such exotic locations as Thailand to show the 60-foot reclining gold Buddha; to India to see Amistar’s Golden Temple, the holiest shrine of the Sikhs and a festival attended by a million Hindu celebrants and 30 elephants adorned in elaborate gold headdresses; to Ghana’s Gold Coast to view Royal Durba festival held in honour of the crew. There, the Ashante tribe’s King permitted the crew to film the rarely seen sacred Golden Stool, which is said to hold the souls of all the Ashante people. In Canada, an explosion displaces 100,000 tons of ore in the largest open pit gold mine in the country. Scenes include the Royal Canadian Mint featuring a fortune in gold bars.
Produced and directed by David Lickley, Gold Fever is Line Produced by Douglas Macfarlane, Award-winning Rene Ohashi (The Arrow) is the Director of Photography. James Lahti is Editor and Associate Producer with Jim Marchbank serving as Executive Producer and Colleen Zilio and Carolyn Thain as Co-Executive Producers. Stephen Low wrote the narration. Financed by Sudbury-based Science North. Toronto-based Barrick Gold Corporation, San-Francisco-based Homestake Mining Company, Denver-based Newmount Mining Corporation and Toronto-based Franco-Nevada Mining Corporation Ltd. And Euro-Nevada Mining Corporation Ltd., the film, scheduled for a summer 1999 release, is being distributed worldwide by SK Films Inc.
