RWANDA
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.
BREAKING THE CYCLE OF HATE
360˚ SHORT FORM 20 MINS
We tell this story like it has never been told before, inside a 360˚ 4K digital dome theater with surround sound. It provides a one of a kind sensory experience that takes the audience on a mind-expanding, spirit-lifting journey into a new dimension of virtual reality and 360˚ immersive experience.
Rwanda has especially focused on community rebuilding placing justice in the hands of trusted citizens. A process called Gacaca is when the community participates in the restorative justice system. A Rwandan tradition that has taken place since the 17th century, prior to colonization.
We go beyond the historical story line and speak to the conscience of how and why they made peace. As the elders of the village come to reason with their perpetrators they remind each other of how these crimes came to be committed and what that person was like before committing the crimes. A deep learning process that reveals some alarming results.
We lend the imagery to create a dream like state to tell this story. Their conscience looks on as they recall the past and dissolve as they find peace with themselves.
We identify main key characters to lead us through this journey of forgiveness as we turn them into 3 dimensional holograms that appear throughout the story line. We even include some of the children we originally photographed over 25 years ago in the refugee camps to help reunite them with their families.
There are many amazing stories on how these people are working to break the cycle of hate. Some perpetrators of genocide against Tutsi asked for forgiveness and have married from victims’ families.
PROJECT OUTLINE
Planning is vital at all levels of EVOKE projects.
We pride ourselves in streamlined planning & organizational skills
to manage time, tools and resources to reach our aims and goals.
Project planner, daily workflow and detailed budgets
are available to all qualified partners on request.
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.
RWANDAN PARTNERSHIP
Our partner International Alert brings together the groups most affected by the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda and uses dialogue to build trust and understanding between them.
Through trauma counseling and micro-finance schemes they have enabled people affected by genocide to identify common ground for cooperation and coexistence, and to learn how to resolve conflicts peacefully.
DISTRIBUTION – 3YR PLAN
Combine a long form television release with a short form 360˚release across a global network of 5,000+ domes. This network will expand our reach considerably by offering distribution of REUNIONS to this network. A small percentage of this network will guarantee a very successful tour.
EVOKE will also tour their own 40′ foot 360˚ digital dome theater across Galleries, Museums, Schools, Colleges, Universities, Planetariums & Digital Dome theaters, Event Venues & Spaces, Public Spaces and Shopping Malls.
THE TECHNOLOGY
We tell this story like it has never been told before inside a 360˚ 4K digital dome theater with surround sound. It provides a one of a kind sensory experience that takes the audience on a mind-expanding, spirit-lifting journey into a new dimension of virtual reality and 360˚ immersive experience. 360 dome theater is a new format of seeing and showing films, where a 360 VR immersive experience is not individualized, but a shared social activity.
Using this 360˚ digital mapping technology it allows us to develop three dimensional hologram like imagery that floats in the space that allows us to interact with the audience in a new way like never before.
MEET THE RWANDA FILM TEAM
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.
Stephanie Daviess –
FILM RESEARCHER
Stephanie Davies is a recent graduate from the University of Arizona with interests in film and television and public relations. Her previous experience in leading teams within communications and outreach has served her the skills and drive to communicate ideas on a broader spectrum.
Her position at EVOKE currently entails researching material for films in production to provide the best methods of storytelling. Stephanie hopes to make a large impact in her position and find compelling stories from the past.
360˚digital dome theaters are a new format of seeing and showing films, where a 360˚ VR immersive experience is not individualized, but a shared social activity.
Theater domes range in size from 16 feet to over 120 feet with 1500 standing capacity. The bigger the dome the larger the set up time and cost related, trucking, cranes, building crew, permits etc. Through a distribution network we can reach these larger domes quickly and efficiently while focusing on our own tour experience.
The EVOKE 40 foot wide dome is the sweet spot for a touring 360˚dome theater. With 1,100 sq.ft floor area and 150 capacity with almost 2,000 sq.ft of screen projectable area. At this size permits are easy to obtain, installation equipment is easily accessible, build time is 12 hours, shipping and transport weight reduced.
Most importantly is the minimal space required to host the dome theater in the grounds of galleries/museums and public spaces. As a stand alone unit it can fit into any busy schedule without disrupting the current venue or layout.
Our vendor has installed domes worldwide over the last 10 years. They will secure shipping and installation to all locations worldwide.
A UNIQUE, ENGAGING AND MEMORABLE EXPERIENCE
PARTNERSHIP AND SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
We seek partners that have the vision and the ability to help develop and sustain this permanent educational tool understanding the value that a project of this scale brings to the community. Through direct experience of the installation, mobile applications and social media sharing the project will reach millions globally.
REUNIONS provides a perfect opportunity for brands and organizations to have direct communication with the public, increasing the awareness of their supportive efforts and dedication to social responsibility.
KEY PARTNER BENEFITS:
- Naming rights to The 360˚ Dome Theater for the 3-year tour period.
- Full partnership integration into all materials, storytelling and press releases throughout the life of the 3-year tour.
- Partner logo integrated into the tour brand design and used on the wrap of the dome.
- Sponsors announcement film at the beginning of each exhibition viewing with 30 viewings per day.
- Integration of all Earned – Owned – Shared – Paid Media.
- Private opening opportunities at the event.
- Permanent memorial for the life of the exhibition.
- Dedicated Public relations team for the life of the 3-year tour.
The EVOKE 360˚ Dome Theater will be made available worldwide to
- Galleries, Museums,
- Schools, Colleges, Universities,
- Planetariums & Digital Dome Theatres
- Event Spaces and Public Spaces
- Shopping Malls
GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION 2021-23
3-year tour can be achieved by linking with a global network of 5,000+ 360˚ digital dome theater and planetariums range from 100 to 1,000+ seater venues. This will expand our reach considerably by offering REUNIONS to this network. A small percentage of this network will guarantee a very successful tour.
EVOKE Foundation is a 501(c)3 tax exempt not for profit organization. In most situations all donations are tax exempt and a large portion of sponsorship is also tax deductible. We recommend speaking with your tax accountant for clarification.
A TRANSFORMATIVE EXPERIENCE IS WHAT ART IS CONSTANTLY SEEKING
Engaging with art is not simply a solitary event. The arts and culture represent one of the few areas in our society where people can come together to share an experience even if they see the world in radically different ways. The important thing is not that we agree about the experience that we share, but that we consider it worthwhile sharing an experience at all. Art can motivate people to turn thinking into doing.’
World Economic Forum, Eliasson
People want experiences that educate, raise awareness and create change. Growing their communities, sharing across all of their social media and spreading knowledge to their friends, families and followers.
PEOPLE TALK ABOUT GREAT EXPERIENCES
More and more people all over the world are dedicated to encouraging and educating their communities on the benefits of social responsibility from corporations and organizations they connect with.
OUR PROJECT PARTNERS
We seek partners that have the vision and the ability to help develop and sustain this permanent educational tool understanding the value that a project of this scale brings to the community.
About Foundry
Foundry develops creative software for the digital design, media and entertainment industries. With a 20-year heritage and a portfolio of award-winning products, Foundry advances the art and technology of visual experience in partnership with creative leaders around the globe.
Clients and partners include major feature film studios and post-production houses such as Pixar, ILM, MPC, Walt Disney Animation, Weta Digital, DNEG, and Framestore as well as automotive, footwear, apparel and technology companies such as Mercedes, New Balance, Adidas and Google. Foundry partners with these companies to solve complex visualization challenges to turn incredible ideas into reality.
The company’s products are used to create breathtaking visual effects sequences on a wide range of feature films, video-on-demand, television and commercials. Foundry software was integral in the making of every VFX Oscar-winning film, award-winning TV shows and commercials for more than a decade.
About Autodesk
Autodesk makes software for people who make things. If you’ve ever driven a high-performance car, admired a towering skyscraper, used a smartphone, or watched a great film, chances are you’ve experienced what millions of Autodesk customers are doing with our software.
Autodesk helps people imagine, design and create a better world. Everyone—from design professionals, engineers and architects to digital artists, students and hobbyists—uses Autodesk software to unlock their creativity and solve important challenges.
Autodesk Maya is the creative 3D softwares used by animators across the world. It is animators favorite software as a 3D software can do multiple activities. Maya can be used to for realistic 3D animation , 3D modelling, realistic 3D environment , character formation and animation, visual effects and many other effects. Such effects and animation is used not only for animated movies but for news channels, television commercials, advertisements, manufacturing etc. Along with these industries video gaming industry is also leveraged by Autodesk Maya. Various modelling tools and its assembly helps to create realistic environment for games or even to create 3D models.
