Ghana and Canada / 2009 / 55mins / Documentary / English

When Silence is Golden follows the film’s director in her quest to lift the silence on the gold mining activities of a Canadian mining company near a small town in Western Ghana. Through her journey, we meet the inhabitants of this town who, despite efforts by the government to silence them, cannot hide their anger and are eager to express their grievances. In seeking to explain this complex situation, the film comes face to face with the human rights implications of gold mining operations in Africa—intimidation by soldiers policing the towns to suppress growing tensions, severe contamination of water sources and the possible resettlement of these communities. This is a film about the struggles of ordinary people who want their voices to be heard; a portrait of a battle that many may consider as already lost.

Alexandra Sicotte-Levesque

Alexandra Sicotte-Lévesque is a humanitarian aid worker, journalist and filmmaker. Originally from Montreal, Canada, Alexandra co-founded the non-profit organization Journalists for Human Rights (JHR) in 2012. She was awarded the Gordon Global Fellowship in 2006 which enabled her to produce her first documentary film, When Silence is Golden, about the impact of Canadian mining interests on a small community in Ghana, West Africa. The film was awarded an honorable mention at the Pan Africa Film Festival in Montreal, and was screened in the US, the UK and across Canada. After working for nearly 3 years in Sudan, with the BBC World Service Trust and the United Nations peacekeeping mission, Alexandra produced and directed her second documentary film, The Longest Kiss. The film premiered at the Montreal International Documentary Film Festival (RIDM) where it received an honorable mention for the Magnus Isacsson prize, and was broadcasted on Super Channel in Canada. Learn More