Dominic Sangma, the director behind the Locarno-selected title ‘Rapture,’ is bringing his focus on environmental and social injustice to the Busan Asian Project Market with his latest drama, ‘Veil of Dust.’ The project, presented within the framework of the Busan International Film Festival’s Asian Contents & Film Market (ACFM), explores the devastating impact of unregulated stone mining on indigenous populations.
The narrative centers on Nengsal, a 35-year-old villager who loses a leg in a mining blast. His wife, Ajin, age 32, embarks on a difficult quest for compensation, only to encounter a system designed to exploit and silence residents. She faces a compromised local headman, an NGO entangled in its own political agendas, and a mine operator who reveals that Nengsal was never officially registered, rendering him invisible on his own land.
The story expands into a mystical dimension through the eyes of the couple’s children, 12-year-old Kasanchi and 10-year-old Miklu. A healer named Rengin conducts a troubling ritual involving a bird, intended to transfer the father’s physical wound. Tensions escalate when an unplanned explosion kills a village boy; elders accept advance compensation to maintain peace. As Nengsal begs Ajin to end his suffering and her legal battle stalls, she turns to rare herbs from her garden that possess both curative and harmful properties.
While stone mining has appeared in Sangma’s previous works, it takes precedence in this film. The urgency of the topic led the director to pause production on the final installment of his village trilogy. Drawing from childhood memories of blasting, ground tremors, destroyed homes, and fatalities, Sangma noted that the practice had become so normalized he previously felt no need to address it. However, a recent return to his village revealed landslides, cracked foundations, and mining operations encroaching closer to the settlement.
Sangma emphasized the complexity of the issue, stating, “To an outsider, unregulated mining might seem like a mere environmental issue. But to those of us who live in it,” the reality is far more profound, involving deep layers of exploitation, complicity, and indigenous belief.
I had no idea stone mining caused such devastation in these communities. The detail about Nengsal being ‘invisible’ is haunting.
The ritual subplot feels underdeveloped compared to the sharp legal critique. Still, a powerful subject that deserves this platform.