Darfur Diaries: Message From Home
Run-time: 57 minutes
Jen Marlowe, Aisha Bain, & Adam Shapiro in Darfur, Sudan
Synopsis:
In October, 2004 a team of three independent filmmakers – Aisha Bain, Jen Marlowe and Adam Shapiro – left for Darfur, Sudan and eastern Chad. After monitoring the worsening political and humanitarian crisis for months and recognizing that the mainstream media offered marginal and inadequate coverage, the team set out with the goal of providing a platform for the people of Darfur (both those displaced inside Darfur and those living in refugee camps in Chad) to speak for themselves about their experiences, their fears, and their hopes for the future. The conflict serves as the ongoing narrative in the film, but the focus is on the people who are living through what has been termed a “genocide.” Through the voices of refugees, displaced persons, and in particular women and children, who are always among the most vulnerable in any conflict situation, this film seeks to provide space for the marginalized victims of atrocities to speak and to engage with the world. Additionally, the film probes the history, culture and heritage of Darfur as a means of deepening understanding of the crisis and complicating easily assumed perceptions by which the conflict is often portrayed (such as a matter of race, ethnicity or religion).
The film presents the Darfurians the filmmakers met (refugees and displaced peoples, civilians and fighters resisting the Sudanese government, child soldiers, teachers, students, parents, children and community leaders) as a people with full lives, culture, and heritage–people with homes that they desperately want to return back to, people undergoing traumatic loss but who demonstrate inspiring strength and resilience, and people whose lives, homes, safety and rights deserve to be protected vigilantly as a fundamental human right.
To organize a screening with filmmakers present to speak and answer questions, please contact CreativeWell, Inc at info@creativewell.com or 1-800-743-9182
To organize a screening of the film, please contact us.
To purchase a copy of Darfur Diaries: Message from Home for private viewing, order from amazon.com.
To purchase an institutional copy for organizational viewing, please contact Nick Santillan at Cinema Libre Studios at santillan@cinemalibrestudio.com or 1.818.349.8822
Darfur Diaries: Message from Home can also be rented at Hollywood Video or on Netflix!
The DVD contains extra features including a slideshow of photos. Interviews with the filmmakers and further context and analysis about the situation in Darfur from Darfuris, academics, humanitarian workers and the filmmakers.
Darfur Diaries has produced curriculum guides and lesson plans for use by educators at no cost. Educators, click here for more information.
Post-production team:
Directed and Produced by: Aisha Bain, Jen Marlowe, Adam Shapiro
Edited by: Adam Shapiro
Music: Leonard Nelson Hubbard
Sound: Ahmad Shirazi
Art Direction: Ann Petter
Animation generously donated by Curious Pictures
Animation Director: Geoffrey Johnson
Animation Producer: Melissa Johnson
Festival Screenings & Recognitions
American Continent International Film Festival, Paris
Cinema le Latina, Paris, France
Jan 29-Feb 5, 2008
Docusur Festival, Tenerife, Canary Islands
November 10-17, 2007
Arrêts Sur Images, Brussels, Belgium
April 23-27, 2007
Rwanda Film Festival, Kigali, Rwanda
March, 2007
Montreal Human Rights Film Festival, Montreal, Canada
March 23-29, 2007
Pioneer Valley Jewish Film Festival
(Greenfield, MA) March 20, 2007, 7:00PM
Human Rights Film Festival, Gaborone, Botswana
March 16, 2007,9:00PM
Seattle Amnesty International Film Festival
(Seattle, WA) February 17, 2007, 9:00PM
Terres des Hommes, Cognac & Angouleme, France
February 9-11, 2007
Global Justice Film Festival, Bradford, UK, Peace Studies department at Bradford University and Rainbow Collective
February 1-4
7 Islands International Film Festival, Mumbai, India
January, 2007
Karachi International Film Festival 2006, Karachi, Pakistan
December 7 – 17
Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
November 12, 2006
Global Visions Film Festival, Alberta, Canada
November 2-6, 2006
International Human Rights Documentary Festival, Glasgow, Scotland
October 14, 2006
Amnesty International Film Festival, Toronto, Canada
October 27-29, 2006
Museum of Television and Radio Documentary Festival, New York, NY, 4:30 PM
October 21, 2006
2006 New Hampshire Film Expo, Portsmouth, NH
October 14, 2006, 4:30PM
Vermont International Film Festival, Burlington, VT
October 14, 2006, 12:00PM
Calgary International Film Festival, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
September 23, 7:00PM
TriContinental Film Festival
September 9, 13 Johannesburg, South Africa
September 18, 24 Capetown, South Africa
Yerevan International Golden Apricot Film Festival, Armenia
July 10-15, 2006
Southside Film Festival, Bethlehem, PA
June 17-18, 2006
Norwegian Documentary Film Festival, Volda, Norway
April 26-30, 2006
New Orleans International Human Rights Film Fesival, New Orleans, LA
April 13, 2006
Human Rights Film Festival of Paris, Paris, France
March 27-28, 2006
Ann Arbor Film Festival, Ann Arbor, MI
March 24, 2006
Westchester International Film Festival, Westchester, NY
March 11, 2006
