This intimate, character-driven film portrays conservationists and activists who are fighting against all odds to stop elephant poaching in Africa’s Congo Basin region. After a study revealed that more than half the central African forest elephant population has been lost to poaching in the last decade, a concerted effort arose to save those that remain. The dynamic subjects of Silent Forests include one of Cameroon’s first female eco-guards, a grassroots wildlife law enforcement group, a Congolese biologist studying elephant behavior, a reformed elephant poacher, and a team of anti-poaching sniffer dogs led by a Czech conservationist. As passionate and tenacious as these conservationists are, they are up against huge institutional challenges that threaten to derail their mission.