Mogok : La vallée des rubis de Birmanie

850 km north of Rangoon and 180 km from the Chinese border, is Mogok, the ruby ​​capital of the world. But Mogok is a forbidden city. The Burmese have always closed the city to foreigners to make it a safe haven, jealously guarding the secret of the extraction of rubies. The seizure of power in 1988 by the military did not help matters. Burmese rubies are reputed to be the most beautiful in the world. They are extracted from open pit mines. The largest are gigantic quarries that tear apart the mountain. If, in the main government mine, mechanical machines level the ground, all the extraction work is done by hand. We extract with a pickaxe. The town of Mogok, around 15,000 inhabitants, lives only by and for rubies, in permanent madness. Buyers come from China or India by the dozens. There are four daily ruby ​​markets in the city, one of which is frequented only by men. Many of them are carved on site, often by Indians. In 1995, although a few special permits were issued sparsely, the last film on Mogok, shot in black and white, dates from the 1950s. Today, our report on the Mogok mines therefore serves as a document. Director: Daniel Cattelain