Filmmakers see the 'Invisible Children'
Student-produced documentary released to inspire action, contribution
Trevor Kupfer
Issue date: 3/13/06 Section: Showcase
One of the greatest filmmakers ever to live, Stanley Kubrick, once said, "Perhaps it sounds ridiculous, but the best thing that young filmmakers should do is to get hold of a camera and some film and make a movie of any kind at all."
On March 16, 2003, almost three years ago to the day, three University of Southern California film graduates did just that.
Jason Russell, Bobby Bailey and Laren Poole thought it would be a good idea to travel to Africa and look for a story worthy of a documentary.
These three kids with no money bought all their equipment on eBay, got the necessary shots and made confessionals in case they didn't come back alive.
"We are naive kids who haven't traveled a lot, and we are going to Sudan," Bailey said.
The scale of genocide between the north and south for over 20 years prompted these kids to document a hidden war comparable to the Holocaust. These California kids realized something was going on, but none of them realize what they are getting themselves into.
They arrive and start filming random acts of amusement, ranging from starting themselves on fire to killing giant snakes to throwing up. Not until they run into rebel groups in Uganda and are forced into Gulu, a city overflowing with orphan children sleeping in the streets, do they find their story - the story of the invisible children.
They don't make a documentary that shows us what we should see in the news. These college-aged kids go deep inside the city at night, interviewing children and asking about their tragic stories. This film is a set of powerful stories of courage and fear, told to an audience that can't even begin to imagine these circumstances. The invisible children have lived through so much that they can no longer harness enough emotion to cry.
Colin Powell once said, "There is no greater tragedy on Earth today than the one that is unfolding in the Sudan." The children of the documentary are malnourished and fearful, having lost their parents to an AIDS epidemic running rampant.
On March 16, 2003, almost three years ago to the day, three University of Southern California film graduates did just that.
Jason Russell, Bobby Bailey and Laren Poole thought it would be a good idea to travel to Africa and look for a story worthy of a documentary.
These three kids with no money bought all their equipment on eBay, got the necessary shots and made confessionals in case they didn't come back alive.
"We are naive kids who haven't traveled a lot, and we are going to Sudan," Bailey said.
The scale of genocide between the north and south for over 20 years prompted these kids to document a hidden war comparable to the Holocaust. These California kids realized something was going on, but none of them realize what they are getting themselves into.
They arrive and start filming random acts of amusement, ranging from starting themselves on fire to killing giant snakes to throwing up. Not until they run into rebel groups in Uganda and are forced into Gulu, a city overflowing with orphan children sleeping in the streets, do they find their story - the story of the invisible children.
They don't make a documentary that shows us what we should see in the news. These college-aged kids go deep inside the city at night, interviewing children and asking about their tragic stories. This film is a set of powerful stories of courage and fear, told to an audience that can't even begin to imagine these circumstances. The invisible children have lived through so much that they can no longer harness enough emotion to cry.
Colin Powell once said, "There is no greater tragedy on Earth today than the one that is unfolding in the Sudan." The children of the documentary are malnourished and fearful, having lost their parents to an AIDS epidemic running rampant.