Principal photography on Darfur, a new feature film co-produced by Cape Town-based ZenHQ and Event Film of Canada, was completed in mid-March. Selected scenes from the film will be screened at the Cannes International Film Festival in May. Shot on location in South Africa and post-produced in Vancouver, the film tells the story of a real-life village in Darfur, reflecting current horrific events in war-torn Sudan.
The idea for Darfur was conceived by director Uwe Boll of Event Film. Boll then approached ZenHQ’s Chris Roland, producer on Boll’s Vietnam war drama, Tunnel Rats. Says Roland: “Uwe and I sat down and came up with the story, which is based on six months of intensive research. We came across a community of refugees in Cape Town whom we called ,The Darfur 14” and they gave us first-hand accounts of the horrendous atrocities we had read about.
“Uwe and I believe this film is important as it shows in a realistic way how black Muslim Africans living in Darfur are being wiped out by Arab Muslim Janjaweed militia in collaboration with the Sudanese government. Over 300 000 people have been slaughtered in the Darfur genocide and two and a half million people displaced. Darfur had been at the forefront of everyone’s mind in North America and Europe for some years, but it has recently been sidelined because of the global economic crisis.”
The film follows a group of western journalists who visit the village of Nabagaia only to be faced with a dilemma Ð leave the village and report on the atrocities committed by the Janjaweed, or risk their lives and try to avert another slaughter.
Read more in the April 2009 issue of Screen Africa
