Tribeca World Premiere of “Children Do Not Play War”
Fovrth’s second Virtual Reality partnership with Facebook Oculus & ViLD Studio debuts at Tribeca Film Festival 2019
NEW YORK, NEW YORK — This month, Oculus VR for Good, VILD Studio, and Fovrth Studios in partnership with Uganda’s Children of Peace and GoCampaign will premiere Children Do Not Play War at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival. Children Do Not Play War is a cinematic virtual reality tale of Uganda’s war told through the eyes of a young girl, named Aloyo.
In the film, Aloyo, a 12-year-old girl living in Lira, Uganda, sits among other children around the fire to tell their stories of war: what they saw, where they went, how their past lives haunt their present. Mixing the age-old tradition of oral storytelling with contemporary Virtual Reality narrative and by blending fiction and non-fiction elements, Children Do Not Play War narrates the memories, the dreams, and the daily lives of the children who returned from the war and their recovery from their childhood.
Through decades of conflict, at least 60,000 children were abducted from their villages by the Lord’s Resistance Army and forced to become soldiers or enslaved women and girls in a violent guerrilla war across Uganda and Central Africa. Some children spent more than their entire youth marching through the rural terrain of the war-torn region.
All of the people in Children Do Not Play War suffered directly or indirectly from the consequences of war, facing stigmatization and prejudice for having been soldiers or, like our narrator Aloyo, for being born in captivity. They are now supported by Children of Peace Uganda and GoCampaign, organizations that provide humanitarian aid for war-affected children.
Their story takes place in rural Northern Uganda, in one of Children of Peace Uganda’s farms where, through financial, social and psychological assistance, the children recover and learn to thrive. The film is scored with the music of Opira Morise Kato, an Acholi songwriter who composed and played his songs with instruments made by himself, but who was also one of the many children who escaped the LRA rebels. In his songs, he sings about children’s education, rehabilitation and world peace.
Children Do Not Play War was directed by Fabiano Mixo (Brazil) and produced by Anna Therese Day (US), and will premiere at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, screening from April 24th to May 5th in New York City. Get your tickets here, and learn more about the important work of Children of Peace Uganda here!
Sign up for updates on Fovrth Studios here.
#Uganda #VR #virtualreality #TFF2019 #ChildrenDoNotPlayWar #goFovrth #goVILD #TribecaFilmFestival #360Video #Immersive
