In the spring of 2003, three young filmmakers, Laren Poole, Jason Russell, and Ben Keesey traveled to Africa in search of a story. What started out as a film making adventure transformed into much more when these three boys from California discovered a tragedy that both disgusted and inspired them, a tragedy where children are both the weapons and the victims of a violent war. They spent some time in Uganda and when they returned to the States, they created a documentary "Invisible Children: Rough Cut," a film that exposes the tragic realities of northern Uganda's night commuters and child soldiers. This film was originally just for friends and family but soon it became a huge success and now has been seen by millions of people, effecting every person who lays eyes on this documentary.
The war in northern Uganda started by Joseph Kony, the leader of the LRA, has been called the most neglected humanitarian emergency in the world today. For the past 23 years, the Lord’s Resistance Army and the Government of Uganda have been waging a war that has left almost two million innocent civilians caught in the middle. The Government of Uganda's attempt to protect its citizens from this rebel militia has largely failed, resulting in an entire generation of youth that has never known or seen peace.
"We are story tellers. We make documentaries about war-affected children in east Africa and tour them around the world."
Invisible children's staff and founders use the power of media to inspire young people to help end the longest running war in Africa. Their model has effected hundreds of thousands of people and many of those people have been called to action through the films and the volunteers that tour them. These people do everything they can to help out and believe that the problems of central Africa need to be tackled comprehensively, from peace to education. Solving them will be no easy task, and it will take many people doing all that they can to ensure the best result by the end of this war.
