An Independent Documentary by Elena Levon

Months before the coup. One woman crossed the lines of fear to hear the voices of war.

Mali, January-February 2020

On January 10, 2020, months before Mali’s military coup, independent filmmaker Elena Levon enters the streets of Bamako alone, wearing a black headscarf and carrying a handheld camera.

French flags are burning. Protesters are shouting. Women, elders and community representatives speak passionately about insecurity, foreign intervention and their growing distrust of those in power.

But Levon’s presence arouses suspicion. Some protesters believe she is a French reporter who has come to distort their words. Local men form a protective circle around her, allowing her to continue filming amid the volatile crowd.

Her journey then takes her toward Djenné, where she meets armed Donso fighters who describe their struggle to defend their communities and their resistance to authorities they believe have abandoned them amid violence and insecurity.

When an armed man on a motorcycle, his head wrapped in a blue scarf, points a loaded shotgun at her, Levon must talk her way out of the confrontation. Without a film crew or security team, she insists that she has not come to spread lies but to give the people of Mali an opportunity to speak their truth.

A senior Donso chief is contacted in Bamako and grants permission for her to film. Levon subsequently meets with local chiefs near Djenné, recording the fighters’ perspectives on conflict, rebellion, community defense and their loss of trust in the government and in MINUSMA (United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali. 1 July 2013 to 31 December 2023 (formally terminated and withdrawn at the request of Mali's military government in 2023)

Filmed independently in January and February 2020, Voices of War: Mali — Broken Trust brings together firsthand testimony from protesters, women, elders and armed Donso fighters during a turbulent period in Mali’s history.

Through raw documentary footage and personal encounters, the film preserves voices from the months preceding Mali’s August 2020 military coup, while revealing one woman’s determination to document a conflict without a crew or protection.

They didn’t trust her camera. She came not to speak for them, but to give them the chance to speak their truth.

• Runtime: 30 Minutes

• Year: 2021

• 100% Ad-Free

• Language: Original spoken languages, with English subtitles

Gifts:

• OPIUM DEN - Art Film
  Sicily, Italy (2020) - Lamu, Kenya (2021) - A sensual exploration of memory, movement, and passion — and the words left unspoken between them.

• YOUTHFUL FOOLS - Podcast Episode

• “Choose to collect memories instead of things” - Elena Levon (Unique card download)

• Access to private instagram account @realelenalevon with all archives and Q&A’s from 2018

IMPACT

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