Filmmaker brings Darfur Diaries to Greensboro
by Jeanna Covington, Carolina Peacemaker
Independent filmmaker Jen Marlowe visited the campus of UNC-Greensboro, Tuesday night, to talk to students about her experiences in the war torn Darfur region of Sudan. Marlowe was here as part of a statewide tour coordinated through the STAND (Students Taking Action Now: Darfur) national leadership.
Marlowe and two other independent filmmakers—Aisha Bain and Adam Shapiro—snuck across the border between Chad and Sudan in mid October 2004. At the time, the conflict in Darfur had been ensuing for more a year.
According to SaveDarfur.org, since 2003 there has been an ongoing conflict between the Sudanese government-backed militia known as the Janjaweed, and the two rebel groups of Darfur; Sudanese Liberation Army/Movement (SLA/SLM) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM).
At least 400,000 people have been killed, and more than 2 million have been displaced. Many find themselves in displaced persons camps in Sudan or in refugee camps in neighboring Chad. These atrocities against civilians carried out by mostly the Janjaweed militia and Sudanese government has been referred to by many nations, including the United States, as “genocide.”
“We went over there very simply to try to bring back the stories that no one else was telling,” said Marlowe to a classroom of about 60 students.
Marlowe expressed that the team of filmmakers wanted to create a film where the voices of the Darfurians themselves were heard directly. Interviews were conducted with Darfurian refugees, rebel leaders and international aid workers. They created “Darfur Diaries: Message From Home” so that those who have survived the ongoing conflict could tell their story.
Katie Mariategui, a senior sociology major at UNCG and founder of the university’s STAND chapter, said that it is very important that the humanity of those individuals displaced within Darfur and those in the refugee camps in Chad be conveyed.
“She’s (Marlowe) been to Darfur. She’s heard these stories firsthand and she doesn’t just report on them, she carries the stories and their voices and their faces with her. And so, I think it’s very important for people to see that. Like she said, when people think of Darfur they think of suffering refugees or victims of these crises but they don’t see the entire person. They don’t see people singing to Bob Marley or children playing together. She makes the situation more human and I think that’s what a lot of people are missing when they think of Darfur.”
After presenting some of the background concerning her experiences in Darfur and how the film got started, Marlowe talked about Darfur in a broader context.
“I think that when we’re looking at such a gross human rights violation that is happening in Darfur, to me, these things never happen in isolation.”
She played a spoken word piece written by Suheir Hammad, a poet and activist born in Jordan to Palestinian refugee parents and raised in Brooklyn, NY. The poem was written after 9/11 and called “First Writing Since.”
She also spoke of the story of Rachel Corrie, who was crushed to death at the age of 23 by a bulldozer on March 16, 2003 while working with others trying to protect a Palestinian home from demolition in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Palestine.
At 5 p.m. Marlowe had a book signing at Borders bookstore on High Point Rd. for the book “Darfur Diaries: Stories of Survival,” a companion to the film. A screening of the film and discussion was held at 7 p.m. at 2 Art Chicks Gallery in downtown Greensboro to a crowd of more than 90 people.
“This was such an amazing event,” said UNCG freshman Brad Rooand.
“This is definitely the biggest event we’ve had,” Mariategui said. “I think it really depicts the growing amount of awareness and activism that’s present in our community but also around the country.”
