Stones Have Laws (Dee Sitonu a Weti) is an immersive initiation into the life of a Maroon community in the former Dutch colony of Suriname. Combining stories of African ancestral traditions and escaped slavery with enacted contemporary rituals, the film explores how the community’s powerful ties to the land have become endangered as industries threaten to devastate the region through deforestation and mining.

Co-directors Lonnie van Brummelen, Siebren de Haan and Tolin Erwin Alexander closely involved the community in the development of the project, which was written using an experimental process of collective scripting. The result is a unique cinematic form that bridges filmmaking, poetry and theatre.

Dir. Lonnie van Brummelen, Siebren de Haan, Tolin Erwin Alexander - 100min - 2018 - Netherlands, Suriname - Languages: Saamaka, Okanisi, Dutch - Subtitles available in: Dutch, English, French

"A fascinating fusion of documentary, poetry and theatre,' The Observer http://ow.ly/2N7j50BDCb2