Feature documentary Logs of War, a co-production between South Africa and Kenya, has been selected for the 2014 Hot Docs Forum, which takes place on 30 April and 1 May during the Hot Docs Festival.
Produced by South African Steven Markowitz of Big World Cinema and directed by Hawa Essuman from Kenya, Logs of War tells the story of Silas Kpanan’ Ayoung Siakor who released evidence that former Liberian President Charles Taylor used profits from illegal logging to fund the brutal civil war in Liberia.
Siakor’s heroic efforts resulted in the United Nations Security Council banning the export of timber from Liberia.
A recipient of The Goldman Prize, the world’s most prestigious grassroots environmental award, Siakor still battles powerful forces that want to use Liberia’s forests as a source of income.
Other projects that will be pitched at Hot Docs Forum include among others The Blue ID (Turkey); A Cold War (Australia); The Korean Dream (Spain, France, UK, Germany); Let There Be Light (Canada); The Night Dad Brought Us Home (Norway); Putin’s Number One Enemy (UK); Two Men, A Car and The Wall (Mexico, Palestine); and Wrestling Alligators (US).
