Title:
Plateau

Year:
2021 – 2022

Running time:
27:00 mins (two-channel)
30:00 mins (single channel)

Format:
HD digital film, colour with sound

Two channel and single channel versions

Location:
Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria
With special thanks to the miners and location team

Acknowledgements:
Commissioned and produced by Fondazione In Between Art Film for the exhibition Penumbra
Complesso dell’Ospedaletto, Venice
20.04 – 27.11.2022

Supported by Africa Culture Fund.

With thanks to Columbia Institute for Ideas and Imagination, Paris.

Director and Editor: Karimah Ashadu

Camera: Aigberadion Israel Ikhazuangbe

Location sound recordist: Anthony Monday

Colour correction and sound adjustments: Cristian Manzutto

Credit Designer: Abdulmonim Twebti

Co-producers: Golddust by Ashadu

“Plateau” profiles a group of undocumented tin-miners in Nigeria’s Jos-Plateau state and explores the socio-economic implications of their activities. Before Nigeria’s independence, Plateau State was central to the mining of minerals such as tin and columbite. Tin deposits were discovered in Jos-Plateau and the British colonial regime at the time enabled foreign companies to exploit the area.

In the late 70’s and 80’s post-colonialism, many of these companies ceased and workers became redundant.

Having gained the skills and knowledge of mining, these workers formed small communities and began digging the land for mineral deposits, as a way towards their independence. They passed their skills on to future generations.

Present day, mining continues  with a whole host of complications. Without adequate machinery, the process is rudimentary and unmonitored, posing grave challenges to miners, inhabitants of Jos-Plateau state and the surrounding ecosystem.

Nigeria gained independence in the 1960s’, and the discovery of crude oil not long before this, saw the abandonment of industries such as mining. “Plateau” questions notions of independence and the detrimental impact of forgotten industries.

Contact studio@karimahashadu.com for preview link in English or German.