PODCAST | Chiara Nicoletti interviews Jason Kohn, director of the documentary Nothing lasts forever.

To listen to the interview, click on the ► icon on the right, just above the picture

They’re the ultimate symbol of committed love. Diamonds are forever, so they’ve been telling us and teaching us. At the 72nd Berlinale, in the Special section, Jason Kohn with Nothing lasts forever brings to light the Synthetic diamonds issue and their infiltrating into real and pure diamonds. With the help of Serbian gemologist Dusan Simic and the expert and writer Aja Raden, Kohn uncovers the issue of contaminated diamonds and use this discovery as a chance to analyze the real value of this gem into society and relationships.

Nothing lasts forever : The infiltration of the jewellery market by synthetic diamonds did not exactly make international headlines. Even more surprising then, that Jason Kohn should choose the topic – one so decisive for an industry based on discretion – as the starting point for a riveting investigation of the universal themes of value, the real and the symbolic. Having earned his stripes working with Errol Morris, as one senses from the interviews, and having dealt with other complex worlds (Brazilian organised crime in Manda Bala, professional tennis in Love Means Zero), Kohn uses his third outing as a director to once again push the documentary into thriller territory, with witnesses turning into antagonists as he leads us through trade fairs, mines, laboratories and conventions in the USA, Africa, China and India. This is a labyrinth where illusions and reality merge, where authenticity and imagination overlap, and questions arise about the value we place on the goods around us. In this sense, diamonds turn out to be exemplary: their exclusivity being the illusory effect of decades of marketing, and their meaning being based on values that synthetic gems, a product of fraud and market evolution, are now putting to the test.

To discover more about the 72° edition of Berlin International Film Festival, click here.