‘Stones Have Laws - Lonnie van Brummelen, Siebren de Haan, Tolin Alexander’

Stones Have Laws (Dee Sitonu a Weti) (2018) is an immersive initiation into the life of Maroon communities 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 communities’ powerful ties to the land have been endangered since industries are devastating the region through deforestation and mining. 

The screening will be followed by a conversation around participatory documentaries with communities with Lonnie van Brummelen and Siebren de Haan, Tolin Alexander, Rehana Ganga, and Olivier Marboeuf, moderated by Vincent Meessen.

Lonnie van Brummelen and Siebren de Haan are an artist duo from the Netherlands. They create films, film installations, writing, sculpture and collages that explore cultural and geopolitical landscapes. Their projects involve extensive research and long-term collaborations with communities.  

Tolin Erwin Alexander is a Surinamese Maroon theatre maker and co-director of Stones Have Laws.

Rehana Ganga is a programme maker at Het Nationale Theater (The Hague) engaged with bringing a more diverse audience into the theatre. 

Olivier Marboeuf is a writer, storyteller, curator and film producer, who draws on the imagination and literature of the Caribbean as well as the mythologies of the suburbs. 

Vincent Meessen is a visual artist and filmmaker who explores the variety of ways in which colonial modernity has impacted the fabric of contemporary subjectivities.