Synopsis
In the spring of 2003, three young filmmakers (Jason Russell, Bobby Bailey, and Laren Poole) traveled to Africa in search of a story. What started out as a filmmaking adventure transformed into much more when these boys from Southern California discovered the untold tragedy of Uganda.
[www.huffingtonpost.com/jason-russell/the-invisible-children_b_190305.html]
After returning to the States, they created the documentary "Invisible Children: Rough Cut", a film that exposes the tragic realities of northern
Uganda’s night commuters and child soldiers.
[www.causecast.org/org/invisible-children]
Response
The film was originally screened on June 22, 2004 at the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice at the University of San Diego for friends and family, but has now been seen by millions of people.
[www.sandiego.edu/peacestudies/ipj/events/past_events/2005/02-21-05_invisible_children.php] The overwhelming response has been, "How can I help?" To answer this question, the 501(c)3 non-profit
. Invisible Children, Inc. was created, giving compassionate individuals an effective way to respond to the situation.
[www.takepart.com/blog/2009/04/20/featured-nonprofit-invisible-children/]
The story of the invisible children sparked a grassroots movement mobilizing thousands of American teens into action to raise money to rebuild war-torn schools in northern Uganda and provide scholarships to African youth.
[wellspringinternational.org/Projects/ReadCompleted/tabid/67/CBModuleId/387/ArticleID/24/Default.aspx]
Exposure
In the past six years, the organization has hosted 5,369+ “official” 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.”
[www.successmagazine.com/Making-a-Difference-Invisible-Children/PARAMS/article/523/channel/24]
Also at one occasion they had 200 cities helping the cause in 10 countries across the world getting one of the boys (the main focus of the film) to travel over there and help the protesters to show the government of the impact it made.
DVD
The film is roughly 52 minutes long, and includes a shorter 35-minute version for different screening options. Also included on the DVD are special features including deleted scenes, extras, filmmaker commentary, update on the war, and trailers from Invisible Children.
[www.imdb.com/title/tt0855841/]
