Bitter Gold
In this pulse-pounding neo-western thriller set in the cutthroat artisanal mining industry in the deserts of northern Chile, 16-year-old Carola must take control of the family business and stave off greedy, gold-seeking rivals after her father gets seriously injured.
Tickets
Select showtime for pricing and tickets.
Friday, May 16, 2025
- Limited Availability
- On Standby
- Matinee
Thursday, May 22, 2025
- Limited Availability
- On Standby
- Matinee
“Where there’s gold, the devil shows,” warns one prophetic laborer in this tension-filled drama about the cutthroat artisanal mining industry in the deserts of northern Chile. Carola (Katalina Sánchez) is the teenage daughter of Pacífico (Francisco Melo), the head of a small copper mine in the middle of nowhere. Each day, Pacífico directs a handful of hardscrabble workers, using mostly hand tools, wheelbarrows, and dynamite sticks. At 16, Carola mostly cooks lunches for the crew, but she also handles the money and has learned some tricks of the trade. When Pacífico is seriously injured in a dispute with a former worker, Carola covers up the details and assumes tentative control of the operation, despite the rising condescension of the all-male crew. When Pacífico’s main rival comes to muscle in on the operation, including a nearby mineshaft rumored to contain gold deposits, Carola must rely on her wits to secure her father’s legacy—and keep his dark secrets. Shot on location, with stunning aerial views of the unforgiving Atacama Desert, Bitter Gold is a pulse-pounding Chilean take on the wild-west genre, where every character has a hidden agenda and the last one to pull off the double-cross usually wins.
—Randy Woods
- Original Language Title: Oro amargo
- Director: Juan Olea
- Principal Cast: Katalina Sánchez, Francisco Melo, Michael Silva, Daniel Antivilo, Moisés Angulo
- Country: Chile, Mexico, Uruguay, Germany
- Year: 2024
- Running Time: 83 min.
- Producer: Felipe Egaña, Daniela Raviola, Francisco Hervé, Moisés Sepúlveda, Juan Bernardo González, Arturo Pereyra, Cristóbal Zapata, Virginia Bogliolo, Tom Schreiber
- Screenplay: Francisco Hervé, Moisés Sepúlveda, María Luida Furche, Agustín Toscano, Nicolás Wellmann
- Cinematographers: Sergio Armstrong
- Editors: Sebastián Brahm, María Salazar, Valeria Hernández
- Music: Sofía Scheps
- Website: Official Film Website
- Awards: Warsaw Film Festival 2024 (Ecumenic Jury Award)
- Filmography: El Cordero (2014)
- Language: Spanish
- Has Subtitles: Yes
- Format: DCP
- International Sales: Patra Spanou Film