Award-winning Documentary about Child Soldiers coming to NCF

Award-winning Documentary about Child Soldiers coming to NCF
By Suzy Woltmann
Excerpt from:
Catalyst Volume XXV
Wednesday, September 24, 2008; Page 10

Renowned filmmaker Robert Koenig is visiting New College to exhibit this 30-minute documentary about child soldiers in Nepal. At 7 p.m. on Sept. 25 and 26, the Emmy nominated director will be showing the film, "Returned: Child Soldiers of Maoist Nepal" and he will be on hand for a question-and-answer session after the film. The documentary, according to its official website, explores how Nepal went from what some in the media put it "Shangri-la to hell in ten years." It examines why children feel compelled to join armed forces and groups in Nepal and investigates ways to improve the lot of these children through the voices of child soldiers, Nepal leadership and experts in the field.

Nepal has been rife with political crises for over a decade. The country has recently has been plagued by a Maoist insurgency and a civil war that the rebels have dubbed the "People's War." This guerilla rebellion began on Feb. 13, 1996 when the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist declared war on the then of Kingdom of
Nepal. Both the Maoist and the government forces used tactics condemned by the European Union, including the heinous crime of recruiting and abusing child soldiers for their cause.

"I found the children involved to be very compelling," said Koenig. "For the most part, children aren't forced into service but rather go voluntarily. They think it's something more innocent,like a special camp or something, until they actually have to fight and kill. These children have issues upon their return home, where
they face stigma and shame within their community."

The documentary reached the Novo Collegiate radar when thesis student Shannon Strischek promoted the film while working as a summer intern for publicist company Savvy Buzz. Strischek kept the film in mind once school started and invited Koenig down to Sarasota using student-allocated funds and appealing to Director of New College Student Activities Konnie Kruzcek, who called the event a "great
opportunity." Strischek sent out several press releases for the exhibition to garner community notice and encouraged both New College students and Sarasota residents to attend the screening.

The film, which Koenig co-wrote with Brandon Kohrt, a medical anthropologist, came out in 2008 and has already won numerous awards at various film festivals, including Best Documentary Short at the Atlanta Underground Film Festival, Best Student Film at the Society for Visual Anthropology Film Festival and had been selected to
premiere in Hollywood, CA at the 5th Annual Artivist Film Festival.

Besides wishing for his film to be "successful," Koenig's objective with the documentary is to increase awareness of the plight of children soldiers and to one day improve their condition.

"I felt that by making this film we could give a voice to these children and bring a larger awareness to the difficulties that they are now facing," said Koenig. "In the future, we want to continue working aid organizations to assist returned child soldiers in reintegrating to their communities."

For now, United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), Save the Children USA and Transcultural Psychosocial Organization (TPO) Nepal are the major aid groups that currently have programs in Nepal. These organizations work to get children jobs and help them to come back to their communities and avoid stigmatization, which can be especially difficult for girls. UNICEF and partners are
trying to address this and reintegrate child soldiers back into society in a productive way through vocational training and assistance.

Students interested in learning more about this cause can attend the film screenings, For more information or to contact Robert Koenig go to the documentary websites: www.nepaldocumentary.com