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It is with pleasure and excitement that I announce the new title of our feature documentary… ‘A Brilliant Genocide‘.

ABG Logo 1
Pre-release teaser video from A Brilliant Genocide (scroll down) 

After 6 years filming, researching and editing this film, it has naturally evolved and transformed into a much different film that we set out to make in 2009 when it all began. 

We spent 3 years on the Joseph Kony / child soldier path – and the issue of children / child soldiers and other related  human rights abuses that are of much interest to us – we condemn the use of children in war, and the abuse of any child in any way, in any part of the world. 

However, the film is no longer 100% focused on the issue of children at war and Joseph Kony’s war in northern Uganda. The film remains very much connected with Kony and his use of child soldiers- but along our 6 year journey we found some completely untold ‘hidden’ stories that we felt were even more important to bring to light.

What we discovered and continue to discover, is that the world has been fooled, as I was 6 years ago, about Joseph Kony and his war in northern Uganda. There’s another side to this story that has never been told, and we have been on a journey for the past few years to find out the truth and the backstory that has received zero media attention – and even worse than that – the people responsible for these concealed human rights abuses, are those who have been supported by the west for 30 years, and who are still in office today. And the West is still today supporting the regime, while the regime continues to enjoy complete impunity for their crimes. 

We have discovered that Kony, although blamed for the war and the suffering, is just the tip of the ice-berg. We have found that Kony did have a reason, a very legitimate reason, for his rebellion, and although his acts of violence and child abductions are deplorable, and in no way justified – he has a reason for what he has done, and in his mind his actions are justified. The truth that no one who knows will admit – will bring many people – the bigger criminals and the puppeteers who have orchestrated this war and allowed it to continue – to account. The people we have spoken with call the situation in Uganda ‘a global conspiracy of silence’. And what we will be showing in our film is that indeed it has been, and sadly continues to be so today. 

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Artwork by Linda Zacks
Artwork by Linda Zacks

It’s been busy few months in the studio editing this documentary… With plans for completion by the end of the year!

Soon we will have a new title for the film and website/facebook/twitter etc – But you’ll have to wait a few months for that special release!

Right now we are working every single day and night to complete this film and get the story out there!

We currently have an 87 minute edit that’s working well. We are close – but still there’s lots of post production work to be done including animating maps, securing archive material, sound design, narration, translating, subtitling and much more – But nevertheless we are getting there! 

Please stay with us… Your support is integral to getting the truth told and to give not only a voice but also justice to the voiceless victims of a most tragic war in Northern Uganda that warrants the attention of the world.

Please also follow us on Facebook at wwww.facebook.com/childtroopers  as that’s where we update regularly!

Many thanks for your support!

 

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Check out this clip –  a sneak peek into our documentary, currently titled ‘Mad Vs Bad’.

We are in post-production, about to start editing with renowned Australian editor Bill Murphy.

Let us know your thoughts and please follow our progress on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube!

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Friends, we’d like you to take part in naming our documentary film!!

 

Help us come up with a new name for our documentary Child Troopers (current working title).

Post your ideas here as a comment, or send them to us privately!

You can also join the conversation on our Twitter and Facebook pages.

www.facebook.com/childtroopers

www.facebook.com/atlanticstarproductions

www.twitter.com/madvsbad

www.twitter.com/atlanticstar233

 

Thank you, and we hope you choose to take part and help us come up with the best name for our documentary!

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In 2012 we travelled to Uganda and New Zealand to continue filming for our documentary ‘Child Troopers’.

In early 2013 we then traveled to the UK to find out more information and hear more stories for our film. This continues again in Uganda in the coming months.

We will be posting some clips form the recent filming in London in the next few weeks so please check back soon for a sneak peak!

We are also sending a 2nd container of bikes to Uganda through our partner organisation Bikes 4 Life, helping the lives of former child soldiers and victims of war.

We wish everyone success and happiness in 2013 and hope you continue to follow our progress with Child Troopers as we enter the final stages of post production later in the year!

Please follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/childtroopers  and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/madvsbad

Peace!

 

Vincent Magombe in London being interviewed by Child Troopers director Ebony Butler.
Vincent Magombe in London being interviewed by Child Troopers director Ebony Butler earlier this year.

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This is a short video clip (sneak peek only) from an interview with Adam Branch for our documentary, at Makerere University (Kampala, Uganda) earlier this year.

The interview touches on military intervention in the hunt for Joseph Kony and the LRA, in Uganda and neighbouring countries such as the DRC  (Democratic Republic of Congo) and CAR (Central African Republic).

Adam Branch is senior research fellow at the Makerere Institute of Social Research, Uganda, and assistant professor of political science at San Diego State University, USA. He is the author of Displacing Human Rights: War and Intervention in Northern Uganda. (http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/profile/adam-branch.html)

Follow our documentary and it’s production on:

Facebook at www.facebook.com/childtroopers and

Twitter at www.twitter.com/madvsbad

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Our team are on the move again, traveling the globe in search of the truth and the untold, unreported stories about the war in northern Uganda.

This week we will be traveling to New Zealand to conduct interviews with Ugandan expats. We then plan to visit London early January to continue our research and interview exiled Ugandans who want to tell their story, that has been silenced and suppressed by international media for far too long.

To follow our journey please check into http://www.twitter.com/madvsbad and follow us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/childtroopers

Don’t forget to also subscribe to this blog and share it with friends!

Wish us luck, as the road ahead could get rough!

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All the Bikes 4 Life teams across Australia are working hard to repair and collect enough bikes, spares and tools for a special Christmas shipment of bikes to Uganda and remote Indigenous communities in Australia.

We would love your help to make this happen and make a real difference to these communities.

BBQ and drinks provided with live acoustic performances from local artists including Zito Ballo and Vinnie Iyer!!

This event is to kick off our weekly Sunday workshops and BBQs and to help get our bikes ready for another shipment to AFRICA!

 

Melbourne Workshop Launch Party

 

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In 2009 I spent quite some time with the students and former child soldiers at Friends of Orphans Rehabilitation Centre in Pader, Northern Uganda. I was also lucky to re-unite with many of the youth when I returned to Northern Uganda earlier this year!

The short video clip below is from my first trip, and was taken on my second day at Friends of Orphans, just as I was getting to know the young women and children, who had in their recent pasts served as child soldiers in Joseph Kony‘s LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army).

The video is classic… Enjoy!

Ebony at Friends of Orphans from Ebony Butler on Vimeo.

Although my method is not a common technique used in child soldier rehabilitation and re-integration efforts (in fact I think it may have never been used anywhere in the world before this!) I do know for a fact that it works – and if not kissing, at least being friendly; funny; open and a little bit ‘Ebonesque’!

The students at FRO Uganda opened up to us immediately after the little kiss with Moses, and I do believe this helped in building the strong relationships we had with the students. Getting everyone laughing and happy was a great building block that lead to many of the former abductees, both boys and girls, wanting to become friends and engage in conversation, which then lead to them confiding in and trusting us. This also resulted in the beginning of new and long-lasting friendships, which have stood the test of time…

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THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The International Criminal Court handed down its first sentence Tuesday, imprisoning for 14 years a Congolese warlord convicted of using child soldiers.

Thomas Lubanga was convicted in March of recruiting and using children in his Union of Congolese Patriots militia, sending them to kill and be killed during fighting in Congo’s eastern Ituri region in 2002-2003.

Presiding Judge Adrian Fulford said the sentence reflected the need to protect children in wartime.

“The vulnerability of children means they need to be afforded particular protection,” he said at the sentencing hearing.

The 51-year-old Lubanga is the first person convicted by the 10-year-old permanent war crimes tribunal.

Rights activists hailed the case as a milestone in efforts to prosecute the widespread use of child soldiers in conflicts around the world.

Prosecutors had asked for a 30-year sentence, but said they would be willing to cut it to 20 years if Lubanga offered a “genuine apology” to victims of his crimes.

Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga awaits his sentence in the courtroom of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, Netherlands, Tuesday, July 10, 2012. (AP Photo/Jerry Lampen, Pool)

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