The film, about the Liberian activist who crusades against environmental destruction, will debut at the Toronto Film Festival.


Leonardo DiCaprio and Appian Way Productions are to executive produce Silas, a documentary about a Liberian environmental activist debuting at the Toronto Film Festival.

Anjali Nayar and Hawa Essuman direct the profile of Silas Siakor, who crusades against illegal logging in Liberia. It will have its world premiere at TIFF on Sept. 11. Appian Way's DiCaprio and Jennifer Davisson join Oscar-winning Edward Zwick and Jonathan Stack (The Farm: Angola, USA) as executive producers on the Canada-South Africa co-production.

The Oscar-winning actor has been a strong advocate of fighting climate change and preserving wildlife, and his documentary, Before the Flood, directed by Fisher Stevens and which screened in Toronto last year, addressed the peril that the world faces because of climate change.

DiCaprio was also behind the Netflix doc The Ivory Game, a look at the underground world of the illegal ivory trade that also screened in Toronto.

Silas is produced by Nayar of Ink & Pepper and Steve Markovitz of Big World Cinema, with Steven Silver, Neil Tabatznik and Robin Smith sharing co-executive producer credits. "We are thrilled to be partnering with Appian Way on the film. Their documentary work aligns perfectly with the spirit of our documentary," Markovitz and Nayar said in a joint statement.

Cinephil is handling international and domestic sales of Silas. The deal with Appian way was brokered by Zwick, Markovitz and Dan Fox.

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