SPECIAL OFF SITE PRESENTATION
PLEASE NOTE! All films in the DOCUMENTARIES OF THE 21st CENTURY IN QUEBEC series will be screened at the Salle Martial-Caron at the College universitaire de Saint-Boniface, 200 De Cathedrale Ave.
* Admission is free and all are welcome
DE L'AUTRE CÔTÉ DU PAYS
Dir. Catherine Hébert | 2008 | 84 mins. | Acholi, Bantu with English subtitles
De l’autre côté du pays (The Other Side of the Country) is a personal film on one of the worst, albeit little known, humanitarian crisis in the world. For the past 20 years, a war in the Northern part of Uganda has opposed government forces and a relatively small group of rebels. The government has used this war as a ploy to remain in power and as a pretext to force 17 million people to move into camps. These are supposedly safe havens from the rebels while, much to the contrary people die in them from diseases and rebels easily penetrate them. Focusing on five victims of this conflict, the film is a powerful and incisive indictment of the Ugandan government’s laisser-faire and also on the countries who provide financial assistance to Uganda and let this war continue uselessly.
Politically crisp and salient, the film captures the realities of war in northern Uganda through the interconnected stories of five people, including: a mother turned activist after her daughter’s abduction; a young girl traveling miles daily looking for a safe place to sleep; a seven year old boy who moved onto the streets to survive; and an increasingly outspoken and courageous man whose job takes him to the heart of the war.
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