Diamonds mean different things to different people — a symbol of love to a young woman and a symbol of oppression to the diamond miner. Diamonds, considered to be the world’s most precious gem, pass through many hands on their way to the jewellery store. A new award-winning documentary, Diamond Road, explores the unfamiliar world of the estimated $60 billion dollar diamond industry through a series of intimate portraits of the people that help to create these precious gems. The result is “…a multi-layered portrait of a stone steeped in the pain, greed and destruction that surrounds them”. We caught up with Diamond Road’s producer Robert Lang to ask him a few questions about diamonds and what they mean for the planet.
Why did you decide to make Diamond Road?
I was approached by the director Nisha Pahuja about helping her make a big, epic documentary that explored the diamond world through people at various points on the diamond pipeline. I had been involved in big ambitious projects before, in particular as Executive Producer and one of the Directors of the four part series, The Sacred Balance with David Suzuki, and found the experience to be challenging but very worthwhile. There had been many films on different aspects of the diamond world -- diamond dealers, blood diamonds, diamonds in South African history -- but nothing that tried to understand the global and interconnected nature of the industry, the diverse motivations of people whose lives were wrapped up in this secretive world. As in any documentary, a subject catches your eye, intrigues you, and wraps you up in questions that need to be explored.
Is Diamond Road a feature film or a television series?
It started out as a concept for a feature doc, but quickly evolved into a three-part series when I went out to try and raise the financing from broadcasters. But the idea of a feature length treatment was never let go -- some broadcasters wanted the 3-parter and others preferred the feature-length. So we did both. The 3-parter has several characters and locations that don't show up in the feature.
How long did it take you to make the film?
Diamond Road was a huge collaborative effort. It took about 18 months to research, develop and finance. We then filmed on four continents over a period of one year and the editing and finishing spanned another year. So you don't take on a project like this if you like a quick fix...
The diamond has become, through effective marketing, a dream built on a dream.
What were you most surprised to learn about the world's most coveted stone?
Well, many things about diamonds surprised me, but probably the one thing that stands out right now is that, much as the industry would like people to believe otherwise, diamonds are not rare. There are huge numbers of diamonds out there in circulation and in the ground still waiting to be exploited. And there would be many, many more in the market if they weren't considered an heirloom, held in closets and safety deposit boxes around the world. The diamond has become, through effective marketing, a dream built on a dream.
What are three things most people don't know about diamonds?
1. While a diamond is the hardest natural-occurring material on earth, if a diamond cutter is not careful, the diamond can still shatter when on the wheel.
2. While working people do gain some economic benefits from the mining of diamonds in the developing world, the industry has a long way to go in arriving at fair dealing with the miners of Africa and cutters of India. A very few people make many millions, while many don't even earn subsistence wages.
3. Before buying a diamond, you can insist on knowing where it came from and under what conditions. If the dealer cannot provide written evidence of its source, you can move on to another dealer until you get the answers you want.
Knowing what you know, do you consider diamonds an embodiment of love?
I am not a good person to ask, since I know too much about diamonds -- the pain, greed and destruction they have been responsible for. But more to the point, I have never found that any material goods can "embody" love. Love is formless and exists on 
another plane.
Would you still buy diamonds?
I never have and never will buy diamonds, but then again, I can understand the appeal they hold for some people -- they can be very beautiful, the way the light plays through them. And if fair trade diamonds become a monitorable commodity, I think there could be many good reasons to support that initiative in the industry. They could be a force for change and development in some of the poor countries that have been exploited to this point.
Is the diamond industry hard on the environment?
Yes, it can be hard on the environment, when big open pit mining takes place and trucks cross vast expanses of otherwise untrammeled wilderness as in Northern Canada or parts of Africa.
Visit: www.kensingtontv.com or www.diamondroad.tv
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