No trace of Bruno Manser has been found since he went missing in 2000
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This year's ‘Filmmaker Award’ at the Zurich Film Festival has been given to the team behind 'Paradise War' about Swiss environmentalist and campaigner Bruno Manser.
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The prize of CHF100,000 ($103,000) was awarded by the Association for the Promotion of Film in Switzerland. The film, directed by Niklaus Hilber and produced by Valentin Greutert, charts Manser’s campaign against forest destruction and political oppression of indigenous people in Sarawak, Malaysia.
Manser lived with the Penan tribe in Sarawak between 1984 and 1990, organising blockades against timber companies. He disappeared during his last visit to the country in 2000 and was officially declared dead by the Swiss authorities five years later.
In 1991, he set up the Swiss NGO Bruno Manser FundExternal link, which to this day campaigns against rainforest destruction around the world.
The award – the third year it has been presented – was handed out at the IWC Gala Evening at the 13th Zurich Film FestivalExternal link on Saturday.
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He became a household name in Switzerland in the 1990s when he staged a 60-day hunger strike outside the Swiss parliament to highlight the plight of the Penan. Manser disappeared in the Malaysian jungle in 2000, and a Swiss court declared him dead five years later. The work he began continues through the Bruno Manser…
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.