Synopsis
Men are felling trees in the rain forest, barefoot, using chainsaws to cut through the huge trunks. They live in nature, off nature and against nature. Illegal wood selling seems to be their only chance to feed their families. At the same time, they are destroying – tree by tree – their own livelihood. This quiet observation ends with the arduous transport of the wood out of the forest. Anyone who thinks ahead knows that it will end up in our apartments, too, as a mahogany table or Bangkirai floor. [65 DOK Leipzig, Luc-Carolin Ziemann]In the deep rainforests of the remote island of West Papua, men seek their fortune in ancient trees whose valuable wood they procure for the international market. Caught between the natural wealth of their native land and the inexhaustible demand of capitalist commodity production, the loggers face an impossible choice: either remain destitute and preserve the forest or destroy it for some loose cash and their children’s education. KAYU BESI (translated as Ironwood) offers a tentative glimpse into their precarious work, following the men into a peripheral and unstable territory where the magic of the old is still at play, while the power of the new is already cutting its swathes.
With: Heindom Mambrasar, Hadi ‚Pur‘ Purwanto, Rudi Wijayanto, Gabriel ‚David‘ Klagilit, Sujarno & Wempi Klasin