SILAS

Credits

Name: SILAS

Country: Kanada/Südafrika/Kenia

Year of publication: 2017

Format: DCP

Color: color

Language : OF m. engl. UT

Duration: 80 Minuten

Direction: Essuman, Hawa

Guest: Essuman, Hawa

Abstract

The Liberian activist Silas Siakor tirelessly crusades against corruption and illegal logging in his homeland. Multinational corporations wreak havoc on the environment, enriching themselves and impoverishing Liberians, some of whom are forced to flee their homes. Himself from a family of modest means, Siakor founded the Sustainable Development Institute to protect the people and the country’s resources. With great determination and ingenuity, he and other activists venture to remote areas to document abuses with their smartphone cameras. The activists’ investigations also shed a critical light on President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who came to power in 2006 riding a wave of international goodwill. Siakor once shared hopes about her presidency but grew dismayed by ties between her relatives and logging interests. SILAS draws upon those visits to the places in question and interviews as well as court records, land documents, and governmental and institutional reports to expose the prevailing truths in Liberia, while painting a portrait of a new generation of resistance in an African country. (Source: tiff.net)