In 1988, director Wim was attracted by two black and white photos taken at the Serra Perada gold mine in Brazil in an exhibition. The faces of the people in the scene are all blackened with sand, carrying heavy bags of golden sand on their backs, and they ride simple ladders down to the abyss that they can't see to the end. They come from all classes of society, from unemployed intellectuals to farmers who have lost their land. Gold is their common desire. These scenes are taken by Brazilian photographer Sebastiao Salgado who returned from Paris in the early 1980s.
In 2007, Wenders finally had the opportunity to meet Salgado himself, and Salgado took him to visit the studio. Wenders was shocked by Salgado's dedication and determination to work. One day Salgado asked Wenders if he would join him and his son Juliano on a destinationless journey, because they felt that they needed an other’s perspective, and the product of this journey was this A documentary called "The Salt of the Earth"
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