ELECTRIC PICTURES PTY LTD
Filmography
Child Soldiers (2002)
1 hour Documentary for ABC, OPB, MacArthur Foundation and RTHK
Play Clip
Sales
A telling global expose of children who have become soldiers, who have been through the trauma of child soldiering, or who are presently active in fighting.
Through a series of intimate encounters with children who have been through the hell of soldiering in Uganda, Sudan, Burma, Colombia and Sierra Leone, this documentary examines the complex issue of recruitment, the hazardous and often brutal life of child soldiers, and for those that survive the fighting - the daunting post-conflict challenges that lay before them.
Thousands of children in more than forty countries across the globe are being forced and tricked into becoming soldiers. It is a tragedy that we are all well aware of - we often see them on the TV news casually toting AK47s; governments and non-government institutions holding child soldier conventions; and the United Nations declaring the sending of children into battle an 'international war crime'. Yet, this tragic practice of robbing children of their humanity is far from abating - it is increasing.
The team films child soldiers under fire. They record the intimate stories of escapees from rebel groups who routinely force the children into atrocities. They are with these children when they re-connect with family and community, some undergoing a simple but emotionally charged ceremony of tribal rites and human compassion. Even when reunited the children are not necessarily safe. Children are kidnapped to be soldiers, escape, go home to their villages only to be kidnapped again and again. It is an appalling cycle that puts their lives in terrible peril and robs them of humanity and their future.
Awards:
Winner, 2003 Child Rights Award, Osnabrueck Independent Film Festival in Germany.
Winner, 2002 ABU/CASBBA/UNICEF award for best program about the child's rights, produced in Asia/Pacific Region (presented at 2003 ABU Conference in Tokyo).
Honorable Mention, Social Issues Division, 2002 Columbus International Film Festival.
Silver World Medal, National/International Affairs, 2002 New York Film Festival.
Bronze World Medal, 2002 UNESCO Awards.