The fourteenth annual Documentary Film Series at 野狼社区 University will continue at 2 p.m. April 15 with Bryan Single鈥檚 鈥淐hildren of War.鈥�
All screenings in the series are free to the public and will be held in the Kerr McGee Auditorium in Meinders School of Business at N.W. 27th Street and Blackwelder Avenue. It is sponsored by the Thatcher Hoffman Smith Endowment Fund.
The series title, 鈥淎ftermath,鈥� comes from the title of a poem by Pulitzer prize-winner Claudia Emerson, who will give a reading at OKCU April 4.
The documentary 鈥淐hildren of War鈥� was filmed in Uganda over a period of three years. It follows a group of former child soldiers as they undergo a process of trauma therapy and emotional healing while in a rehabilitation center. Having been abducted from their homes and schools and forced to become fighters by the Lord鈥檚 Resistance Army鈥攁 quasi-religious militia led by self-proclaimed prophet and war criminal Joseph Kony鈥攖he children, with the help of a team of trauma counselors, struggle to confront and break through years of captivity, extreme religious indoctrination and participation in war crimes.
鈥淚 cannot remember a documentary so wrenching and hopeful, so guileless and authentic,鈥� said Paul Hawken of The New York Times. 鈥淓qually rare is a documentary that can be called art. 鈥楥hildren of War鈥� is an aesthetic masterpiece and I do not use that word lightly鈥攊f ever. Boys and girls who became the blunt instruments of war return to the remembrance of goodness in an alchemical act of spirituality. 鈥楥hildren of War鈥� should be seen by every young person in the world, and most certainly every trigger happy politician. A radically humanizing narrative done with perfect grace and skillfulness.鈥�
The OCU Documentary Film Series will conclude April 22 with Sara Terry鈥檚 鈥淔ambul Tok.鈥�
