"Returned" to be screened at McGill University in in Montreal

Thursday April 30, 2009

Child, Family, & Community Mental Health in Cultural Context Conference at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec will screen "Returned: Child Soldiers of Nepal's Maoist Army" followed by a panel discussion with Ilse Derluyn, Brandon Kohrt, Anneke Rummens, Charles Watters and film producer/director Robert Koenig will also be present.

16:00 – 16:30
Child Soldiers: Comparison of Mental
Health Between Former Child Soldiers and
Never-Conscripted Children in Nepal
Brandon Kohrt
Emory University

16:30 – 18:00 panel/film screening of Robert Koenig's "Returned: Child Soldiers of Nepal's Maoist Army"
Clinical Considerations in Developing
Countries, War, and Exile
Ilse Derluyn, Robert Koenig Brandon Kohrt, Anneke
Rummens, & Charles Watters

Univeristy of Chicago Screening of "Returned"

University of Chicago Screening of "Returned: Child Soldiers of Nepal's Maoist Army", followed by a panel discussion with Filmmaker Robert Koenig.

Date: April 16, 2009
Time: 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM
Location:
South Asia Commons in Foster 103
5848 S. University Ave Chicago, Illinois 60637


Sponsored by: The Committee on South Asian Studies

Northwestern Screening of "Returned: Child Soldiers of Nepal's Maoist Army"

This award winning documentary tells the personal story of Nepali boys and girls as they attempt to rebuild their lives after fighting a Maoist revolution. Through the voices of former child soldiers, the film examines why these children joined the Maoists and explores the prevention of future recruitment.

The children describe their dramatic recruitment and participation in the Maoist People’s Liberation Army during the eleven-year civil war between the Maoist insurgents and the Hindu monarch of Nepal. The girls’ stories demonstrate how voluntarily joining the violent Maoist struggle became their only option to escape the gender discrimination and sexual violence of traditional Hindu culture in Nepal.

RETURNED highlights contemporary political and social forces in Nepal, bringing awareness to issues of human rights, poverty, violence and insurgency, global health, women's rights, migration and international interventions.

Discussion with flimmaker Robert Koenig follows the screening

"Returned: Child Soldiers of Nepal's Maoist Army" at Loyola

"Child Soldiers of Nepal's Maoist Army"
Film screening and discussion with the documentary's director Robert Koenig with a reception to follow.
Tuesday, April 14, 7:30 PM
Crown Center Auditorium, LSC

This film “tells the personal story of Nepali boys and girls as they attempt to rebuild their lives after fighting a Maoist revolution. Through the voices of former child soldiers, the film examines why these children joined the Maoists and explores the prevention of future recruitment. The children describe their dramatic recruitment and participation in the Maoist People’s Liberation Army during the eleven-year civil war between the Maoist insurgents and the Hindu monarch of Nepal. The girls’ stories demonstrate how voluntarily joining the violent Maoist struggle became their only option to escape the gender discrimination and sexual violence of traditional Hindu culture in Nepal. With the major conflict ended and the Maoists in control of the government, these children are now discarded by the Maoist leadership and forced to return home to communities and families that want nothing to do with them. For many of the children of Nepal’s Maoist Army, the return home can be even more painful than the experience of war.”

The film has received several awards including Best Student Work at the 2008 Society for Visual Anthropology Film Festival. For much more information about this film and the film maker, please see http://nepaldocumentary.com.