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Rape is used as a weapon against tens of thousands of women and children in Congo’s civil war: it destroys families, disrupts the economy by crippling breadwinners, contributes to the HIV/AIDS plague … and because of shame the victims feel they cannot speak and thus suffer from “The Greatest Silence.” Filmmaker Lisa Jackson used a horrific event from her past to engage Congolese rape survivors, to get them to speak. Now Lisa comes to Indy to help us understand how we can be part of helping the Congolese solve their problems.

When: Tuesday April 29, “The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo” shows at 5:45 PM; Provocate’s post-film discussion with Lisa Jackson and others will probably start around 7:30 PM

Where: Keystone Art Cinema‎, 8702 Keystone Crossing Indianapolis, IN 46240

“Shot in the summer and fall of 2006 in the Eastern war zones of the Democratic Republic of Congo, this feature-length documentary breaks the silence that surrounds the plight of the tens of thousands of women and girls who have been systematically raped, enslaved and tortured in that country’s intractable civil war. The filmmaker, herself the survivor of a gang rape, interviews dozens of survivors and talks with activists, physicians, peacekeepers and the rapists themselves. She goes to homes, hospitals and churches, traveling to remote mountain villages to meet rape survivors who have often been shamed and abandoned. These brave women come forward to tell their stories and provide a piercing and intimate look into the horror, struggle and ultimate grace of their lives.”

Provocate has sponsored discussions of “The Greatest Silence,” the result was a fascinating discussion about how Central Africa and Central Indiana are connected … and a burst of ideas about how we can help the Congolese address their problems. (See the Provocate page on coltan.) Now filmmaker joins us to push the ideas further.

This is part of the Indianapolis International Film Festival’s Eric Parker Social Justice Award. The winner will be chosen based not on the film’s technical merits; instead Provocate will pick the winner based on its ability to change the way the audience views the world, and th eway it breaks the boundaries of its viewers imaginations.

This discussion with Lisa Jackson will also include many high school students and teachers who may work on an initiative to find solutions to the human and environmental costs associated with the mining of coltan in Congo.

Know before you go … Provocate has collected more information about Congo, and about women and war.

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This entry was posted on Monday, April 21st, 2008 at 11:26 pm and is filed under Events, Foreign policy, Women, Violence, Law & justice, Human and civil rights, Film, Health & Medicine, War & peace, GLOCAL-ization, Africa, Poverty, HIV/AIDS, Citizen Diplomacy, Taking action, Kids, Provocate Event, Families and children, Inter-cultural communication. 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.