Bring the World Home through Film

Featured Opportunities

AID invites you to screen two powerful new documentaries that will bring the world home to your campus. One is called "Between Two Fires: Torture and Displacement in Northern Uganda" and the other is "Outlawed: Extraordinary Rendition, Torture and Disappearances in the 'War on Terror,'" and both are productions of the human rights media group Witness (www.witness.org).

We're ready to support any student leaders who want to host a screening in their campus or community. These screenings will be followed by advocacy steps , meaning that filmgoers will discuss what they see in the films and then take several kinds of action--from writing to congresspeople to signing petitions. We have prepared a toolkit to provide everything you'll need to host a successful screening.

More about the films » How AID will help you » Register for a Screening » Go to the Toolkit »

The films

• Between Two Fires documents the results of two decades of armed conflict between the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and the Ugandan government in the Northern Uganda, which has caused some nearly two million civilians to be displaced from their homes. The LRA has committed the abduction of over twenty thousand children, widespread maiming, rape and murder against the civilian population. While the LRA have been perpetrators of these crimes, the Ugandan People’s Defence Forces (UPDF), the national army, has also committed human rights violations against civilians that include arbitrary detention, extrajudicial killing, torture and rape. Through the personal stories of torture survivors, Between Two Fires advocates for official acknowledgement of these abuses, redress for torture victims, as well as implementation of legislative measures to strengthen national mechanisms against the use of torture.

• Outlawed tells the stories of Khaled El-Masri and Binyam Mohamed, two men who have survived extraordinary rendition (a procedure by which a nation sidesteps its human rights commitments by sending foreign suspects another country for interrogation under less humane conditions), secret detention, and torture by the U.S. government working with various other governments worldwide. Outlawed features relevant commentary from Louise Arbour, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, U.S. President George W. Bush, Michael Scheuer, the chief architect of the rendition program andformer head of the Osama Bin Laden unit at the CIA, and Condoleezza Rice, the U.S. Secretary of State.

How will AID support me?

Once you have booked your room and registered your event online, AID will provide you with:

• templates for emails to send to your professors asking them to tell their students about your documentary screening.
• a flyer/poster as well as a press release template which you fill in and return to AID for us to forward to media contacts
• an organizer's toolkit with the DVD, posters, tape, pins, chalk, tips on how to introduce your speaker and DVD, lots of follow-up information on issues discussed in the documentary and AID fact sheets.
• a mini-grant of up to $50 so that you can have snacks and refreshments at your event. AID will even order and pay for you to have pizza delivered to your venue for the film screening; we find that this a great way too boost your audience and bring in non-experts.
• a $150 grant if you have invited a relevant speaker (for traveling costs as well as to have refreshments). AID can help you locate and invite expert speakers in your local area. We will send a reimbursement form in your organizers toolkit.

AID staff are happy to help you with all aspects of holding a documentary screening on your campus. Please contact Hammad with any questions.

Get Me Started!

If you're ready to begin, then choose which films you'd like to show. You can show either film or both films, but keep in mind your time constraints. Of the first two films, Between Two Fires is more likely to appeal to a wider population with diverse political standpoints. There is also a very timely advocacy action that can be linked to this film.

First, click here to register for the screening »
Then, click here to access the Organizer's Toolkit »