A Documentary on Child Galamsey “THE MONEY STONE” to be premiered in Ghana

Tamale, Aug. 19, GNA – International Documentary Film Director, Stuart Harmon, has taken on the controversial subject of Ghana’s child gold miners for his first feature-length film “The Money Stone”.
          The film tells the stories of Justice and Maxwell, two teen boys working to achieve their dreams in deadly gold mines in Ghana.
            It will make its Africa premiere at the Black Star International Film Festival with screenings on August 22 at 20:00 hours and August 24 at 14:00 hours at the Silverbird Cinema at the Accra Mall, in Ghana’s national capital.
          In a statement to the press in Ghana through the Ghana News Agency (GNA), Mr Harmon said “through the compelling stories of Justice and Maxwell, ‘The Money Stone’ offers an untold perspective of galamsey, by illuminating the complicated family dynamics, cycle of poverty and the trillion-dollar global gold trade behind the scourge of child labour”.
             The interwoven tales, the statement noted, “takes the viewer on an incredible journey through the teens’ lives, offering rich and personal coming of age stories, unlike anything seen before”.
             It indicated that Mr Harmon began this film while working on his master’s thesis at the New York University (NYU’s) School of Journalism and has visited Ghana several times with his producing partner, Paula Ely.
          “Over the 11 years we spent filming THE MONEY STONE, I began to understand the extremely difficult choices impoverished families have to make in order to survive. On the one hand, children at the mines are not only in near-constant danger from the perilous conditions, but they also have to face corrupt bosses and suffer from an unjust political system that forces them to work as criminals. Yet, many families choose that over the uncertainty of education, where years of schooling and sacrifices may never pay off in a viable job.”
          It stated that Harmon’s previous work includes television and documentary programmes for the New York Times, Vice, A&E, MTV, and CNN, among others and added that the Film Maker is the recipient of two Telly Awards.
          According to Ms Ely, his working partner’s credits include the award winning documentary “Vanishing Cultures: Bushmen of the Kalahari.”
         “The Money Stone” according to the statement made its world premiere back in October, 2018 at the Austin Film Festival and has since screened at film festivals around the world.
              “The team has also been the recipient of several competitive film grants as well as participated in the renowned IFP Rough Cut Lab”, the statement added.
          According to Mr Harmon, “the film will be one of five documentaries in competition at the Black Star International Film Festival. Stuart and the film’s subjects will be involved in a question and answer (Q&A) session after each screening”.
           The statement concluded, “Mr Harmon and his team looks forward to a spirited discussion about the issues with a full audience”.