Film Screening + Panel Discussion: Overburden
24.04.2026 18:30 – 20:30
Location: Rachel Carson Center, fourth floor, Conference Room, Leopoldstr. 11a, 80802 Munich, Germany
Director: Sarita West, UK/USA 2026, 76 min., OV
Panel discussion with: Gregg Mitman (creative director) and Shadrach Kerwillain (cast member)
Founded in the wake of war, the East Nimba Nature Reserve shelters some of West Africa’s most endangered species. With exclusive, on-the-ground access, OVERBURDEN follows rangers, scientists, and forest defenders, including ranger Moses Darpey, biologist Grace Kotee Zansi, chief park warden Catherine Kuku Dolo, and community leaders Saye Thompson and Dada Konkah, who tend the land, protecting endangered species and sustaining livelihoods as a billion-dollar company falls short of promised support. They are joined by Shadrach Kerwillain, a Liberian conservation biologist and Mnqobi Mamba, a bat scientist from Eswatini, who navigate the tangled frontier where mining meets conservation and where memory, science, and power collide.
The film captures their intimate encounters with the mountain’s extraordinary inhabitants, from the only true viviparous toad found nowhere else on Earth to resilient cave-dwelling bats and adaptive chimpanzees. Grace works to reconcile clashing farmers and chimpanzees through coexistence strategies. Moses searches for the rare Nimba toad on high peaks, while Mnqobi revisits a cave to see if the bats he helped relocate as part of the company’s biodiversity offset program are still there.
The film screening will be followed by a discussion moderated by Lijuan Klassen. The screening and the discussion will be in English. The event is hosted by the Decolonial Practices Group.
Free and open to the public. Barrier-free.