Lions and Tigers - A Documentary by Cory Hoover

Synopsis

Lions and Tigers is a feature-length documentary directed by Cory Hoover.

Recounting the two-fold disaster of a people devastated by the Indian Ocean Tsunami AND an ongoing civil war between the Sri Lankan 'Lion' Army (SLA) and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Lions and Tigers lays the foundation to understanding the tragic yet unexplored crisis unfolding in Sri Lanka.

Featuring extremely rare footage direct from the battle front, we see the war spill into rural neighborhoods in eastern Sri Lanka, to families who have been bombed out of their villages half a dozen times in only a few years. Survivors of the tsunami share their profound stories of courage and loss, and their frustration towards the indifferent warring powers that have destroyed their communities time and time again.

Children journey to the village morgue to identify the corpses of their missing parents. Families trek up to 50 kilometers across the coast carrying water bottles and rice sacks, their only belongings, in order to evade the fighting. Former child soldiers venture back to school despite traumatic memories of being kidnapped right outside their homes.

Yet after spending months among these forlorn victims of war, we begin to unravel their suppressed sentiments of hope, and realize that although Sri Lanka is a nation divided, its people are longing for peace.