Iron Ladies of Liberia

Section: Documentaries
Directed by: Daniel Junge and Siatta Scott Johnson


USA, 2007

Dir.: Daniel Junge, Siatta Scott Johnson
Phot.: Daniel Junge
Editor: Davis Coombe
Music: Gunnard Doboze
Cast: Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Antoinette Sayeh, Beatrice Munah Sieh
Format: HD / Screening: BETA SP
Colour
77 mins
Contact: Just Media

She was the first woman ever elected head of state in Africa. Thus Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s victory in Liberia was not just personal – nor was the task she woke up to the next morning. Liberia had endured vicious recent civil wars that saw unspeakable atrocities. Nearly everything in the country was broken. When Johnson Sirleaf took power in January, 2006, she was faced with rebuilding her nation from zero. She turned to a remarkable team of women.

“Iron Ladies of Liberia follows these women in their critical first months of power. […] Directors Daniel Junge and Siatta Scott Johnson get unprecedented access to the inner workings of the Liberian government. This film puts us in the room with Johnson Sirleaf as she negotiates with representatives from the World Bank and courts Chinese President Hu Jintao. Perhaps the most inspiring moment comes when U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visits Liberia to address the debt question. To see these two black women settling massive international accounts is to witness a tangible change in geopolitics. Iron Ladies of Liberia offers an up-close look at the hard work of nation building. How do you reconstruct a country after fourteen brutal years of war? This film has one good answer: let women lead.” (Cameron Bailey)

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