''Invisible Children'' is a 2006 American

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

which depicts the human rights abuses by the

Lord's Resistance Army The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) is a Christian extremist organization operating in Central Africa and East Africa. Its origins were in the War in Uganda (1986–1994), Ugandan insurgency (1986–1994) against Yoweri Museveni, during which Jo ...

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

Synopsis

In the spring of 2003, Jason Russell, Bobby Bailey, and Laren Poole traveled to

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

to document the

War in Darfur The War in Darfur, also nicknamed the Land Cruiser War, was a major armed conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan that began in February 2003 when the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army, Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) and the Justice and Equalit ...

. Instead, they changed their focus to covering the conflict in northern Uganda, Africa's second longest-running conflict after the

Eritrean War of Independence The Eritrean War of Independence was an War, armed conflict and insurgency aimed at achieving self-determination and independence for Eritrea from Ethiopian rule. Starting in 1961, Eritrean insurgents engaged in guerrilla warfare to liberate ...

. The documentary depicts the abduction of children who are used as child soldiers by

Joseph Kony Joseph Rao Kony (born September 1961) is a Ugandan militant and warlord who founded the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), designated as a terrorist group by the MONUSCO, United Nations Peacekeepers, the European Union, and various other governments ...

and his

(LRA). The film centers around a group of Ugandan children who walk miles every night to places of refuge in order to avoid abduction by the LRA.

Exhibition

The film was first screened on June 22, 2004 at the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice at the

University of San Diego The University of San Diego (USD) is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic research university in San Diego, California, United States. Chartered in 1949 as the independent San Diego College for Women and San Diego University ...

. Since then,

Invisible Children, Inc. Invisible Children, Inc., founded in 2004, is an organization to increase awareness of the activities of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in Central Africa, and its leader, Joseph Kony. Specifically, the group seeks to put an end to the practices ...

has hosted more than 10,000 screenings at colleges, high schools, churches, concerts, and other venues. As of June 2009, it is estimated that more than 5 million people have seen ''Invisible Children: The Rough Cut.''

Social activism

The story of children depicted in the film was the basis for a grassroots movement mobilizing thousands of American teens into action to raise money to both rebuild war-torn schools in northern Uganda and provide scholarships to African youth. In 2005, a

501(c)(3) A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, Trust (business), trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of ...

non-profit, Invisible Children, Inc., was created giving individuals a way to respond to the situation in Uganda.Take Part
web site, 2010. An employee of the organization, Nate Henn, was killed in the July 2010 Kampala attacks.

DVD

The film is about 55 minutes long and the DVD includes a shorter 35-minute version for different screening options. The DVD includes special features; deleted scenes, extras, filmmaker commentary, update on the war, and trailers filmed by Invisible Children, Inc.

References

External links

Joseph Kony 2012: growing outrage in Uganda over film

Invisible Children Homepage
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''Invisible Children''
images from film
''Mourning Nate Henn''
the Nate Henn memorial website
''Kony 2012''
Kony 2012 Homepage {{Invisible Children Inc. 2006 films 2006 documentary films American documentary films Documentary films about Uganda Films set in 2003 Documentary films about child soldiers 2000s English-language films 2000s American films English-language documentary films