Overburden

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.

OVERBURDEN tells a powerful story of resilience and transformation in a landscape shaped by industry yet alive with possibility. Through vivid cinematography and deeply rooted storytelling, the film follows communities and nature enduring and adapting in the face of relentless global forces. OVERBURDEN celebrates the power of mutual aid, showing how people and ecosystems persist, rebuild, and thrive against overwhelming odds.

“The world needs this film.” -Donna Haraway, Staying with the Trouble

      
“Moving, insightful and confronting.” - Bram Buscher, The Conservation Revolution (with Robert Fletscher)

     
“Quietly beautiful and ethically urgent.” - Christof Mauch, Wie der Mensch die Erde verwandelt (With Bernhard Lang)

Sarita West is the founder of Alchemy Films and produces award-winning documentaries for international audiences. West creates captivating films exploring the intersection between nature and culture, and ensures audience impact is at the forefront of every project.

She is well-versed in producing films for broadcast markets, film festivals, and educational fields and is a writer, director, and producer for both short- and long-form documentaries. Her work can be seen on National Geographic, PBS, Discovery, ITVS, ARTE and Canal Plus. In 2016, West and Mitman co-directed and co-produced the awarded film, THE LAND BENEATH OUR FEET, an unflinching examination of early globalisation and corporate land grabs that led to Liberia’s lost sovereignty over the very land that sustains them.

West immerses audiences within each story by dedicating herself to intense fieldwork and a commitment to showcasing ethical dilemmas and complexities that may otherwise go unnoticed. She produces films steeped in community engagement and challenges perspectives of global audiences to incite action for our planet.