Provocate.org

Since 1998 a brutal war has been raging in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Over 4 million people have died. And there are the uncountable casualties: the many tens of thousands of women and girls who have been systematically kidnapped, raped, mutilated and tortured by soldiers from both foreign militias and the Congolese army. For the first time, they tell their stories.

When:

Friday September 28 1:00, 3:00, 5:00 & 7:00 PM
Saturday September 29 1:00, 3:00 & 7:00 PM (discussion after 3:00 showing)
Sunday September 30 1:00, 3:00, 5:00 & 7:00 PM (discussion after 7:00 showing)

Where: Key Cinemas 4044 S. Keystone Ave. Indianapolis, IN 46227

Adults $5.00; Students $3.00

To qualify for an Academy Award, a documentary must show on a minimum number of commercial theatres, with paid admission and advertisements. To help several excellent films qualify, Key Cinemas is arranging special showings this fall.

About the film “The Greatest Silence: Rape in Congo” go the website: www.thegreatestsilence.org.

The world knows nothing of these women who have been raped, tortured, brutalized. Their stories have never been told. They suffer and die in silence. In The Greatest Silence: Rape in Congo these brave women finally speak.

Emmy Award winning producer/director Lisa F. Jackson spent 2006 in the war zones of eastern DRC documenting the tragic plight of women and girls in that country’s intractable conflict. She was afforded privileged access to not only the grotesque realities of life in Congo (including interviews with self-confessed rapists) but also to examples of resiliency, resistance, courage and grace.

Jackson was herself gang raped in 1976 and shared her experience with the survivors she interviewed. These women in turn recount their stories with an honesty and immediacy pulverizing in its intimacy and detail. The film is a journey into a literal heart of darkness, a search for survivors who pay witness to their own experiences, and break the silence.

Background, context and opinion are provided by interviews with peacekeepers, politicians, activists, doctors and priests. But above all there is the wrenching testimony from dozens of survivors of sexual violence who recount stories of chilling barbarity. This film gives them dignity, a face and a voice that will finally break the silence that surrounds their plight.

Know before you go … Get news of Congo’s humanitarian crises and relief from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Especially see “Our Bodies - Their Battle Ground: Gender-based Violence in Conflict Zones.”

Be part of the solution! Attend one of the discussions of the film with other members of the community who are working on these issues in the Democratic Republic of Congo and other parts of Africa after the September 29 3:00 PM showing, and the September 30 7:00 PM showing.

For more information about Congo and its troubles, check out Provocate’s background sheet. For more information about women and social conflict, go here.

If watching a film about critical problems and discussing possible solutions sounds interesting, check out the discussion of Ken Burns’s new documentary about WWII November 14, and the discussion of the film about global climate change, “The Eleventh Hour,” October 4.

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This entry was posted on Monday, September 24th, 2007 at 4:26 pm and is filed under Uncategorized, Events, Women, Violence, Law & justice, Human and civil rights, Film, War & peace, Africa, Citizen Diplomacy, Kids. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.