SADIMAN: THE FOREST MAN OF JAVA
DIRECTOR - DP | Tristan Vince
PRODUCER | Claudia Baxter
(IN POST-PRODUCTION)
On the slopes of Mount Lawu, central Java, a seventy year old villager has made it his life’s mission to single-handedly plant a forest to save his village from the effects of climate change.
Situated on the Southeastern slope of Mount Lawu, on the border between Central and Eastern Java, sits the small hillside hamlet of Dali. Once surrounded by lush forest, the region was decimated by a series of forest fires and illegal logging that swept through the area from the 1960s to the 1980s. The ensuing drought claimed many lives as the Gendol river dried up, crops failed and disease spread amongst the villagers, the effects of which continue to this day.
One local resident has made it his mission to single-handedly return the forest to its former glory. Sadiman, a seventy year old resident of Dali has been re-foresting the barren slopes of Gendol by hand for over 25 years. Spending each day in the forest and paying for every sapling out of his own pocket, Sadiman has faced fierce opposition from local residents over the years, but continues to remain resolute in his mission to bring his beloved forest back to life and save his community.
CONTEXT
Over the past decade the world has experienced some of the most destructive wildfires in modern history: Indonesia in 2015, California in 2018, Australia in 2019. Forest fires now undoubtably represent one of the biggest threats to climate security and livelihoods around the globe. Coupled with this, many forest regions around the world are being deforested at an unsustainable rate, to make way for farming, exacerbating the severity of droughts and flash floods.
Sadiman’s story is one of resilience and inspiration, from a part of the world that often sees a lot of negative press regarding environmental destruction. By reintroducing the right trees back into an ecosystem, forests can once again flourish and continue to act as carbon sinks, flood protection and water sources for communities, and this is Sadiman’s mission.