Dee Sitonu a Weti (Stones Have Laws)

<h2>Synopsis</h2> <p><em>Dee Sitonu a Weti (Stones Have Laws)</em> 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.</p> <h2>About the Directors</h2> <p>Lonnie van Brummelen (1969) and Siebren de Haan (1966) have worked together as collaborating artists since 2002, producing film installations, sculptures, publications and image collages that explore cultural and geopolitical landscapes such as Europe’s borders, sites of resource production and global trade, and the (non) sites of cultural heritage. In 2015, the artists initiated <em>Stones Have Laws</em>, a film project in collaboration with the Surinamese Maroon community, which was four years in the making, co-directed with Tolin Alexander (1971), a writer, theatre director, actor and dancer of Surinamese Maroon descent who specializes in cross-cultural theatre and community projects. In 1994 he co-founded the cultural dance group Fiamba with Louise Wondel (1971-2014) which aimed to integrate Maroon culture into Surinamese society. In 2003, he founded the Forum Tolin Toli Masanga company and developed and produced various creative theater plays and performances with this company. <em>Stones Have Laws</em> received theatrical release in the Netherlands and the UK.</p>