Dead Donkeys Fear No Hyenas / Das Grüne Gold

Around the globe, there is a massive commercial rush for farmland – the new green gold. One of the most profitable new spots for farming is Ethiopia. Hoping for export revenues, the Ethiopian government leases millions of hectares of allegedly unused land to foreign investors. But the dream of prosperity has a dark side – the most massive forced evictions in modern history, lost livelihoods of small farmers, harsh repression and a vicious spiral of violence. Contributing to this disaster are the EU, the World Bank and DFID, providing billions of dollars in development money.

DEAD DONKEYS FEAR NO HYENAS investigates these foreign land-investments and exposes their impact on people’s lives. In the pursuit of truth, we meet investors, development bureaucrats, persecuted journalists, struggling environmentalists and evicted farmers deprived of their land.

Trailer

Details

Country of Production
Sweden, Germany, Finland

Year of Production
2017

Format
HD, DCP

Length
80 min

Director
Joakim Demmer

Production
WG Film in co-production with Ma.ja.de. Filmproduktion, JW Documentaries, Film i Skåne and SVT, in association with RBB/ARTE, IKONdocs and YLE

Original Language
English, Amharic, Anuak

Subtitles
English, German, French, Finnish, Dutch

Festivals / Awards

cph:dox Copenhagen 2017
Docville IDF Leuven 2017
San Francisco Green FF 2017
DOK.fest Munich 2017 (Special Mention)
Sheffield IDF 2017
European FF Palic 2017
Aegean FF Patmos 2017
Dokufest Prizren 2017
Tri Continental FF 2017
EBS IDF 2017
Africa FF Cologne 2017
Bergen IFF 2017
Innsbruck Nature FF 2017 (Special Award
BEST FILM ON THE TOPIC OF SOIL)
IDFA Amsterdam 2017
ZagrebDox 2018
HUMAN IDF Oslo 2018 (Honorable Mention)

pre-selected for a European Film Award 2017 in the category Best Documentary