original title:
Goa. The Land of Shiva
directed by:
cinematography:
editing:
music:
production:
country:
Italy
year:
2016
film run:
74'
format:
colour
status:
Ready (01/12/2016)
festivals & awards:
In 1954, an Italian named Baron Ludovic Toeplitz arrived in Goa. With the financial support of an enterprising Italian, Alessandro Vassallo, Toeplitz is looking for iron ore for blast furnaces in Europe. He acquires the mining concession Orasso Dongor in North Goa and starts a new company, Sesa Goa, Eonomici Trade Limited Company, subsidiary of IRI-Finsider since 1955. Sesa Goa is currently owned by the Indian group Vedanta Resources. On December 12, 1961, with Operation Vijay, Goa was taken over and occupied by the Indian army after 451 years of colonization by the Portuguese empire. Goa was liberated on 19th December, 1961. In addition to iron ore mining, trance music has its roots in the State of Goa. It gained popularity in the late sixties and early seventies, when the Indian state became known as the mecca of the hippies. A group of musicians remained in Goa, concentrating on the development of music along with other elements such as yoga and the use of psychedelic drugs. The drug trade in the state of Goa has been characterized by infiltration that touches the highest levels of politics, local law enforcement and various mafias. Most of Goa’s forests are located within the eastern regions of the State on the slopes of the Western Ghats, recognized as one of the 21 biodiversity hotspots in the world. Many animal species have lost their bearings because of the extensive illegal mineral extraction which is deforming an entire ecosystem.