REX MILLER: FILMS AND CINEMATOGRAPHY
646-262-9089
GULU STORIES
a film by Rex Miller
documentary short, 2006
TRT: 30 mins
GULU STORIES is the second documentary film from photojournalist Rex Miller.
Presented at screenings by Amnesty International, The International Criminal Court, UNICEF and Pace University Law School.
Available for purchase and educational screenings through INDIEPIX
An intimate portrait of life on the ground in Northern Uganda. Through camp fire stories, aid worker accounts and performances by local musicians, the film stitches together anecdotes that collectively relay the pain and suffering, but also the endurance, that epitomizes the story of the people of northern Uganda through this twenty-two years of war.
The town of Gulu, a dusty outpost near the Sudanese border, is the principal haven for those who have been displaced by the civil war in Northern Uganda. A conflict which recently entered it's 22nd year, it has triggered a human rights and humanitarian catastrophe, and has now displaced close to 2 million people from their homes. In the last few years alone, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) have killed and maimed thousands, kidnapped and conscripted upwards of 25,000 children, and have continually been accused of unspeakable atrocities. Anyone accused of “collaborating” with the government is punished swiftly and severely, often in ways meant to intimidate the rest of the population. This includes the cutting of noses, ears and lips of women caught away from the relative safety of the oppressive camps for IDP’s (Internally Displaced Persons) that they are forced to live in.
The film looks at life on the ground, telling first person experiences of a cross-section of Gulu locals that have been directly affected by the conflict, weaving their tales together into vignettes that frame an intimate portrait of a people displaced by war. As international organizations try to broker peace agreements and start war crimes proceedings against the LRA leaders, local Ugandans--presented in the film--offer their own solution: Reconciliation, free from outside intervention.
An entire society is being systematically destroyed — physically, culturally, emotionally, socially, and economically — in full view of the international community. Or, as Medecins Sans Frontieres has reported, “The extent of suffering is overwhelming...according to international benchmarks this constitutes an emergency out of control.”
About the music: Photojournalist Rex Miller previously spent 10 years documenting the culture and traditions of blues music in the Mississippi Delta, where music was used as a form of expression for personal and group experiences. Here in Gulu, he found musicians were doing the same thing. "The experience was eerily similar," says Miller. "It is music that I now describe as ‘Gulu Blues’. I thought I was back in Clarksdale, Mississippi, as I found several talented men who took turns on an old acoustic guitar, sharing music that illustrates the pain and struggle that is their everyday existence, songs about land mines, defilement of women, and dreams stolen, all describing the agonizing sense of loss that pervades this region, but music that is also imbued with the rich legacy of Acholi culture. It just goes to show how music has certain chracteristics--the ability to be an outlet for pain, struggle, even joy-- that cuts across barriers of culture and distance."
trailer: 2:40
CREDITS:
shot and edited by Rex Miller
assistant editor: Logan Hendricks
Musicians: Benjamin Omony, Alpha "The Boxer" Otim,
"Fat" Moses Oguti
Special Thanks: Alex Otim, Gerald Clark, Augustine Olobo, Moses, Chad and Susan Morse, Tim and Robin Wolff, Fritz and Katie Wolff, Cedric Babu, Siraaj, Lena Schildt (UNICEF), Daniella Boston, Tony Lumu, Gerald Clark, Jay Terevo, Carol Levy
To get involved, check out:
UNIGHT for the Children of Northern Uganda
note: a portfolio of images from Uganda can be viewed at
www.rexpix.net>Portfolios>Uganda