JUSTICE AMONGST THE GRASS
IN PRODUCTION
AS THE WORLD STRUGGLES TO FORGIVE ONE ANOTHER AND NATIONS ARE IN CONSTANT CONFLICT THE TINY COUNTRY OF RWANDA IS FORGIVING A GENOCIDE
THIS IS A REMARKABLE STORY OF FORGIVENESS AND THEIR COMMITMENT TO PEACE
JUSTICE AMONGST THE GRASS
LONG FORM 90 MINS
During the genocide against the Tutsi in 1994, Séamus Conlan and co founder, Tara Farrell brought together the resources of the ICRC – International Committee of the Red Cross, UNICEF, Eastman Kodak and Life magazine to photograph 21,000 Rwandan children to help reunite them with their families 80% went home to a family member. The process evolved into “The Lost Children of Rwanda” one of the largest traveling photo exhibitions in history opening at the ICP – International Center of Photography in New York and Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles. The exhibit continued to travel the world for many years.
This documentary follows the pair as they return 25 years later back to Rwanda with their own children to make a 360˚multi-media film that will travel the world in a 40 foot dome.
As they work to build this modern visionary way of story telling we see the journey of Rwanda from the call of hate from Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM) that triggered the mass killing of over 1 million Tutsi in 100 days and a huge exodus from the country. What happened in 1994 in Rwanda shocked the world with the story of genocide against the Tutsi, twenty-five years later the story of peace and reconciliation is just as shocking. A nation works to forgive one another, as friends killed friends and neighbors killed neighbors, they work to break the cycle of hate through the community court system, Gacaca, that release prisoners back into their community. Loosely translated to “justice amongst the grass”
This documentary doesn’t dwell on the past put looks to the future through the eyes of the children that experienced it first hand. It is a story of hope not only to the world but an individual story that each and every viewer can experience in an immersive way within the multi-media 360 ̊ dome experience.
The story comes to a close as the first of a network of domes in Rwanda’s capital, Kigali, premieres and serves as a reunion to its survivors.
THE STORY OF RECONCILIATION IN RWANDA
PROJECT OUTLINE
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BREAKING THE CYCLE OF HATE
THE NARRATIVE
BREAKING THE CYCLE OF HATE.
The world struggles to forgive one another and nations are in constant conflict because they are not willing to break the cycle of hate.
Through the process of Gacaca, roughly translated, Justice amongst the grass, is when the community participates in the restorative justice system. A Rwandan tradition that has taken place since the 17th century, prior to colonization. The nation works to forgive one another, as friends killed friends and neighbors killed neighbors, they work to break the cycle of hate through the community court system releasing prisoners back into their community.
We go beyond the historical story line and speak to their conscience, how and why they made peace.
TELLING THIER STORY
One story, two films, two different formats.
As we work to build this modern visionary way of story telling we see the journey of Rwanda from the call of hate from Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLM) that triggered the mass killing of killing of over 1 million Tutsi in 100 days and a huge exodus from the country.
What happened in 1994 in Rwanda shocked the world with the story of genocide against the Tutsi, twenty-five years later the story of peace and reconciliation is just as shocking.
The story comes to a close as the first of a network of domes in Rwanda’s capital, Kigali, premieres and serves as a reunion to its survivors.
OUR HISTORY IN RWANDA
During the genocide perpetrated against the Tutsi in 1994, Seamus Conlan and Tara Farrell brought together the resources of the United Nations Children’s Fund, the International Committee of the Red Cross, Eastman Kodak and Life Magazine to help reunite more than 21,000 lost children with their parents, using photographic images.
The process evolved into one of the largest traveling photo exhibitions in history and is now a standard form of tracing people in developing nations. 21,000 children were photographed by photographers Seamus Conlan and Tara Farrell and from these images 80% of the children were reunited with a family member.
MEET THE RWANDA FILM TEAM
THIS TEAM BRINGS A HUGE AMOUNT OF INDUSTRY EXPERIENCE, AS WELL AS KEY RELATIONSHIPS TO EXECUTE THIS PROJECT
Séamus Conlan –
DIRECTOR /EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Seamus was named the 16th of the “100 most important people in photography” in American Photo magazine decade round for creating the 4th largest photo agency in the world- WpN, an international agency with over 5,000 media clients and with 700 photographers in 72 countries.
Life Magazine honored him for having taken one of the ‘100 images that changed the world’ ‘The Lost Children of Rwanda’ after he initiated a photo tracing campaign to reunite children with their parents in Rwanda during the genocide to reunite 21,000 lost children. It later evolved into one of the largest traveling photo exhibitions in history opening at the ICP – International Center of Photography in New York and continuing onto the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles in a joint exhibition with celebrity photographer Mark Seliger.
The exhibit continued to travel the world for many years, with coverage in hundreds of major print and broadcast media, and the process is now a standard form of tracing people in developing nations. “The Lost Children of Rwanda” was given a ‘Directors Club’ award for the use of imagery.Read more
Tara Farrell –
DEVELOPMENT PRODUCER
Tara Farrell has over fifteen years experience as a, visual researcher, photo editor & clearance supervisor for editorial and commercial clients such as Showtime, FacebookWatch, NIKE, Apple, SONY, NBC, NOS Netherlands, NHK Japan, NDZ Germany, RDF England, National Geographic and CNN for which she was part of the creative team that won an Emmy for ‘ United Shades of America’.
Tara oversaw the work of 700 photographers in 72 countries for WpN with an editorial staff of 20 with over 5,000 daily clients that around the world. She also built the Multimedia division of WpN creating original programming for the web to be used on multiple platforms and mobile devices.
A former Associated Press photographer with 10 years of international experience, she worked together with Seamus Conlan photographing more than 21,000 lost children to help reunite them with their parents after the Rwandan genocide in 1994. She was instrumental in securing the world traveling exhibition of ‘The Lost Children of Rwanda’. For the unique compilation image of 21,000 children they were given the Art Directors Club award and was named one of the “100 images that changed the world” by Life magazine. Read more
Sahm Venter –
HEAD OF RESEARCH / PRODUCER
Sahm Venter is an independent writer and editor who believes deeply in storytelling as a tool for empowerment and transformation.
She was the senior researcher at the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Johannesburg, South Africa where she worked for nearly 13 years after a career in journalism.
Her media work began in the early 1980s when she wrote for the South African and international media, including The Associated Press, as a reporter and a television producer, covering news in 15 African countries.
The highlight of her work as a journalist was covering the release from prison of Nelson Mandela on 11 February 1990. She went on to follow his rise to lead the African National Congress and then as South Africa’s first democratically elected president and his retirement after he served one term in office.
She was a member of the editorial team for Nelson Mandela’s international bestseller, Conversations with Myself (PQ Blackwell, 2010). She has published more than a dozen books including The Prison Letters of Nelson Mandela (WW Norton; 2018), Conversations with a Gentle Soul (PQ Blackwell Ltd & Picador Africa, 2017) which she wrote with Ahmed Kathrada, and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela’s 491 Days: Prisoner Number 1323/69 (Picador Africa, 2013) which she co-edited with Swati Dlamini. Read more
Fritzi Horstman –
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
Fritzi Horstman produced HBO’s “The Defiant Ones” directed by Allen Hughes. It garnered several awards including IDA Best Limited Series, NAACP Outstanding Director in a Television Movie or Special, Grammy for Best Music Film and was nominated for five Emmy Awards including Best Documentary.
She served as a producer and post producer on numerous features and documentaries for Paramount Network Television, Universal Television , VH1, UPN, Lifetime, Showtime, FX Networks, the CW and CBS.
Fritzi is also the founder of Compassion Prison Project to bring compassion and childhood trauma awareness to men and Women living behind bars. Read more
Claude Colart –
SENIOR RESEARCHER/PRODUCER
Claude Colart is a television producer who has spent over three decades working on five continents. His experience spans broadcast news, 24-hour news channels and agencies, non-profit work, documentary and media training and project managing large-scale media events.
After running the Brussels bureau for Associated Press TV, Claude became its Europe & Africa Manager at its London headquarters supervising the daily incoming and outgoing news flow for the company’s global clients. Later he took on the role of Deputy Managing Editor for APTV in Johannesburg and went on to work as Africa producer for Al Jazeera English, which included setting up the broadcasters’ bureaux throughout the continent.
He has produced television news and features for BBC, Sky News, France24, Nine Australia, NHK Japan and ABC America amongst others. His NGO work includes productions for the European Commission, the World Anti-Doping Agency, the World Health Organisation, Unicef, the World Food Programme and Care.
Michel Kinfoussia –
VFX SUPERVISOR
Michel Kinfoussia is currently working as Lighting and Look development Supervisor at Method Studios in Santa Monica. Build shaders and pipelines for different productions such as “Avengers – Infinity War”, “Captain America – Civil War” and “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.2”. Bringing to life main characters and environments in a physically based world to get a photorealistic response through light rigs.
Previously as Senior Lighting and Look development artist at Framestore in Los Angeles and before that as Lead Look development, lighting and compositing at Dreamworks for a decade. There, Michel was part of the Rig development board and one of the main thought leaders for template and GI development. Michel managed the lighting department in order to build everything necessary to create efficient environments and character setup, with a focus on the main characters.
Michel works closely with art directors, directors, vfx supervisors and cinematographers assisting them to create their vision through storytelling while enhancing look, quality and consistency throughout the production. Read more
Ez Blaine –
CREATIVE MARKETING
Ez Blaine was recently a Global Creative Director for Apple, where he led a cross-functional team of creatives and production staff to transform Apple’s Today at Apple retail initiative. This global initiative required Ez’s team to develop groundbreaking interactive educational sessions, events and experiences in areas of Photography, Art & Design, Music, Video and Health & Fitness.
Prior to Apple, Ez served as the Global Creative Director for SONOS, a company with a Billion dollar valuation and a music technology pioneer. Ez was brought in to take Sonos from being a B2B focussed company to a B2C lead company and helped develop Sonos’s new brand strategy and look and feel. Read more
Melanie Skehar –
LEGAL COUNSEL
Melanie comes to EVOKE after a long career in both entertainment and criminal law. She began her legal career as a clerk for the Honorable S. Otero in federal court where she handled all of the intellectual property cases. From there, she crafted her skills in distribution contracts at Lions Gate Studios, where she worked under Wayne Levine in business affairs. Later, Melanie was an associate at Pierce Law Group, LLP, a boutique entertainment law firm in Beverly Hills where she drafted contracts, negotiated with studios and unions, and ultimately provided litigation when needed.
Melanie later changed gears and joined the Orange County District Attorney’s Office and later the Santa Monica City Attorney’s Office where she tried upwards of 50 jury and bench trials in both juvenile and adult courts. Read more
David Espinza –
FILM RESEARCHER
David Espinza is an actor and screenwriter from Spain. His work brings attention to social injustice, immigration and LGTBQ rights. His short film screenplay TOLERANCE received award for best short at the 2020 Screenplay and Storyboard film festival. He was nominated for best actor at the 2016 New Renaissance film festival.
David has served in key roles to production companies Luma Pictures and VEVA Entertainment Co
Colin Sprague –
FILM RESEARCHER
Colin is an accomplished branded content developer and producer with a knack for pulling off the impossible on a shoestring budget. A creative leader who has led the charge in conceiving or casting four television series across multiple networks. In short, a restless go-getter with a keen eye for the worlds and characters that makes an audience lean forward in their seats.
Past and current television productions with Netflix, RedBull Media, Animal Planet, History, and National Geographic.
