To the Light (2011)

The bright lights of China's booming economy are powered by the suffering of its miners, who work deep in the perilous coal shafts around the country. The miners dig armed only with pickaxes, and the shafts are supported by rudimentary wooden props. "To the Light" follows them into the dangerous darkness, even capturing the final moments of one unfortunate miner. The story will show three coal mining families in Sichuan Province, west China, revealing their untold struggle to escape the mines and poverty, and the human cost of China's industrialization.