WMM's Latest Acquisition Garners Sundance Prize
THE GREATEST SILENCE: RAPE IN THE CONGO
by Lisa F. Jackson
Women Make Movies 462 Broadway Suite 500E New York, NY 10013 tel: 212.925.0606 fax: 212.925.2052info@wmm.com www.wmm.com
January 30, 2008THE GREATEST SILENCE Wins Special Jury Prize at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival
Lisa F. Jackson’s extraordinary film, THE GREATEST SILENCE: RAPE IN THE CONGO, has won the Special Jury Prize: Documentary at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. A recent acquisition of Women Make Movies and a project from our Production Assistance Program, this intimate and piercing film explores the epidemic of rape in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Produced in association with HBO Documentary Films and the Fledgling Fund, THE GREATEST SILENCE: RAPE IN THE CONGO will have its broadcast premiere on HBO in April 2008.
Shot in the war zones of the DRC, THE GREATEST SILENCE: RAPE IN THE CONGO documents the shocking plight of the many tens of thousands of women and girls being systematically kidnapped, raped, mutilated and tortured by soldiers from both foreign militias and the Congolese army. Until now, the stories of these women have never been told to the rest of the world. This is the second consecutive year that a WMM release has won an award at the Sundance Film Festival. ENEMIES OF HAPPINESS by Eva Mulvad and Anja Al-Erhayem won the World Cinema Jury Prize: Documentary in 2007.Click here to read the full press release.
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About WMM:Women Make Movies is the world’s leading distributor of independent films by and about women, with a focus on cutting-edge documentaries that give depth to today’s headlines, as well as artistically and intellectually challenging works in all genres. Our films are showcased in prestigious exhibition venues and festivals both nationally and internationally and are broadcast by television and cable stations in the U.S. and abroad. The Women Make Movies collection of more than 500 films and videotapes is also used by thousands of educational, community and cultural organizations annually. Visit our website www.wmm.com.
The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo
A film by Lisa F. Jackson
2007, 76 minutes, Color, VHS/DVD, French, Swahili, Lingala, Mashi, Subtitled Order No. W08930
Shot in the war zones of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), this extraordinary film shatters the silence that surrounds the shocking plight of women and girls caught in this country’s intractable conflict. Since 1998 a brutal war has ravaged the DRC, killing over 4 million people and resulting in many tens of thousands of women and girls being systematically kidnapped, raped, mutilated and tortured by soldiers from both foreign militias and the Congolese army. Until now, the stories of these women have never been told to the rest of the world. A survivor of gang rape herself, Emmy-Award winning filmmaker Lisa Jackson travels through the DRC to understand what is happening and why. This moving documentary, produced in association with HBO Documentary Films and the Fledgling Fund, features interviews with activists, peace keepers, physicians, and even – chillingly – the indifferent rapists who are all soldiers of the Congolese Army. But the most moving and harrowing moments of the film come as dozens of survivors recount their stories with an honesty and immediacy pulverizing in its intimacy and detail. Heart-wrenching in its portrayal of the grotesque realities of life in Congo, this powerful film also provides inspiring examples of resiliency, resistance, courage and grace.
Documentarian Lisa Jackson went to the Congo to take the testimony of women and girls being raped and sexually assaulted for the last decade in her new film, The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo, which premiered at Sundance this week. It will air on HBO in April.
Lisa spoke to me from Sundance on the eve of her world premiere.
Melissa Silverstein: Why did you want to make this movie?
Lisa Jackson: It's an invisible story as a lot of women's stories are, the horrific tale of the systematic rape and mutilation of hundred and thousands of women. It's just stunning to me that nobody was reporting it. The NY Times did one story on this angle of the war. But what they are doing to women…not only the militias from the neighboring countries but the Congolese army itself. I interviewed soldiers who were raping the very women they were supposed to be protecting.
MS: It was amazing that when you were talking to the rapists how they had a complete and total disconnect from the harm they were actually causing.
LJ: They [the Congolese army] see themselves as just "raping" whereas the militias are the one who mutilate the women and fire guns into their vaginas. But the end result is exactly the same. The women are shunned, turned out from their villages and abandoned. So the end result is exactly the same and that they parse the difference is just ridiculous, the disconnect is pretty profound.
MS: You made yourself a character in the film. Why did you do that?
LJ: It wasn't something I was initially going to do but people who saw rough cuts said that I absolutely had to because it was through telling them my story [of being raped] that the barriers between us came down.
MS: What compelled you to go to the Congo?
LJ: Here was this story, the stories of these women and no one was telling it. It seemed important to me not to have some hand wringing piece but to actually listen to the women's stories. These are women who are silent and to be able to share their story with someone who was not judging them was an experience none of them ever had.
I went to Kinshasa on frequent flyer miles and with documentaries you never know what you are getting into. I don’t have much experience shooting in conflict zones but a friend working with the UN Peacekeepers was able to get me a UN credential. I then made my way east to where the real nightmare was unfolding.
My radar is particularly attuned to those voices, which are the other side of war. I thought for years of doing a survey film on the fate of women and girls in conflict zones because of the ongoing devastating effects of war. So I went to the worst place first to shoot.
I am continuing the theme and have been to Colombia twice in the last three months doing a film on displaced women. It is said that 60% of the women in Colombia have suffered either physical or sexual violence. This is another one of those invisible stories, and it is a requirement of a documentary to find stories that otherwise you would never hear about.
MS: How did it feel being a first world white woman going into a third world country?
LJ: I thought that through before I went. I was a white woman in the bush with a camera. I might as well have been dumped from a spaceship. I thought that as much as I could it was important to let them know I was one of them so I brought photographs to demystify where I was coming from and I shared my story of rape. They kept asking me about the war [thinking that rape only occurs in timer of war]. They asked lots of questions including, did you family know you were raped? How was it is you got married? They were fascinated that I had a boyfriend, and they were stunned to hear that I chose not to have children.
Their questions pointed to how different we really were. I feel an intense responsibility to them. It was the rare woman who would tell me her story without pleading for help for her and her sisters.
MS: Why do you think that women directors are so well represented in documentaries versus features?
LJ: I've only made documentaries for 35 years, but the thing about docs especially now, is that you have the option of doing it on your own. On this film I shot it, did the sound, directed, and edited it -- I was a one-person band. I tried for almost a year to get funding. I have never done a doc this way but you really do have that option especially working on a small scale. You have a lot more control. This is also a film that nobody would have funded because it's such a bummer subject, but once people see it they are shocked that nobody has done it before. I knew that once I got over there are started filming that I would get support because people would see from the women's faces hear their stories and realize what a compelling subject it was.
MS: What can people do to help?
LJ: We are putting together an outreach strategy around the culture of impunity to hopefully pressure the Congo government to prosecute rapists. We will provide resources where people can donate money. But also it's important for the first world to look at its role. This is an economic war. The blood of Congolese women are on our cell phones. It's important to understand that it's not just a bunch of crazy Africans killing each other. There is an economic imperative behind the pillaging, killing and rape.
To strike at the women is to strike at the heart of the culture. If you destroy women the civilization collapses.
For more information and to see the trailer: http://www.thegreatestsilence.org/
Submitted by Melissa Silverstein January 24, 2008 - 2:25pm
mardi 30 octobre 2007
En toute impunité Fémicide au Congo
par Élaine Audet
"Un véritable fémicide a lieu en ce moment dans la République démocratique du Congo", a déclaré Stephen Lewis, ancien ambassadeur du Canada à l’ONU et envoyé spécial de l’ONU pour le VIH/SIDA en Afrique, lors d’une conférence à l’Université de Montréal, le 9 octobre 2007. On assiste à une barbarie indicible sous l’œil du monde sans que personne n’intervienne. La violence est si extrême qu’il est impossible de la décrire à la radio, ajoute Aline Gobeil de Radio-Canada. Il n’y a aucun équivalent sur terre, selon Stephen Lewis. Ce qui se passe dans l’est du Congo est la continuation du génocide au Rwanda. Des miliciens hutus ont trouvé refuge au Congo, depuis 1994, attirés par ses richesses, et y perpètrent en toute impunité, à la face de l’opinion mondiale, viols, mutilations, cannibalisme.
L’année dernière, Sisyphe avait publié un article de Rory Carroll affirmant qu’en huit ans, des dizaines de milliers de Congolaises ont été violées et torturées par des militaires et des proches. Le 7 octobre dernier, le New York Times publiait un article parlant d’"épidémie de viols au Congo" ! Un médecin travaillant dans l’épicentre de cette "épidémie" déclare qu’on ne sait pas pourquoi ces viols ont lieu, mais qu’une chose est claire : "Ils ont pour but de détruire les femmes."
Du film The Greatest Silence : Rape in the CongoSelon les Nations Unies, 27 000 agressions sexuelles ont été rapportées en 2006 dans la province du Sud Kivu seulement, et cela n’est qu’une fraction de l’ensemble de ces crimes dans tout le pays. Malteser International, un organisme européen de lutte contre le sida qui opère des cliniques médicales dans l’est du Congo, estime qu’il y a un risque de 8 000 cas de viol cette année, comparé à 6 338, l’année dernière. L’organisme déclare que "dans la seule ville de Shabunda, 70% des femmes ont subi des brutalités sexuelles."
Causes inconnues ?
Les médecins, le personnel de lutte contre le sida, les chercheuses et chercheurs tant congolais qu’étrangers ne peuvent expliquer un tel déchaînement de violence. Plusieurs Congolais nient que le problème soit culturel et insistent pour dire que ces viols en série n’ont pas pour cause la façon dont les hommes traitent les femmes dans la société congolaise. Si tel était le cas, on s’en serait rendu compte depuis longtemps, déclarent-ils. L’épidémie de viols s’est déclarée au milieu des années 90, au moment de l’arrivée massive des réfugiés hutus, après l’extermination de 800 000 Tutsis et Hutus modérés au Rwanda. Un consultant canadien travaillant dans le domaine de la prévention du sida qualifie le phénomène des viols massifs de "valeurs inversées", de tels comportements pouvant se développer, selon lui, dans des régions traumatisées par des conflits interminables comme dans l’est de la République démocratique du Congo.
Dans un article paru dans Libération le 8 mars 2007 et intitulé "Congo, le viol comme arme de guerre", Juliana Gristelli raconte que, dans l’hôpital situé à l’extrême est du Congo, "La plus jeune des patientes a 5 ans. Les viols rituels sur des enfants ou des femmes âgées ont toujours existé dans la région. Mais la plupart des femmes opérées à Panzi ont été victimes de campagnes massives où le viol a été utilisé comme une arme de guerre, visant à détruire le tissu familial et social par la transmission du VIH et la mutilation."
En 2005, 3 600 femmes ont été opérées à Panzi, 3 550 en 2006. Et on va d’histoire d’horreur en histoire d’horreur : "Tes jambes ne te servent à rien, je vais te les brûler". C’est ce que le mari de Mélanie lui a dit lorsqu’elle est rentrée chez elle, en lui racontant qu’elle avait été violée dans les champs où elle travaillait. Furieux, au lieu de la consoler, le mari l’a accusée de ne pas avoir couru. Il l’a aspergée de combustible et a craqué une allumette. Marie a été violée avec sa fille de 8 ans. Euralie, elle, a été violée devant ses propres enfants par huit soldats, qui venaient de tuer son mari.
Agir
En lisant ces articles et témoignages, on se demande ce qu’il faudrait faire pour venir en aide à nos sœurs congolaises pourchassées par des assassins qui, en toute impunité, cherchent à les effacer de la surface de la terre. On ne saurait s’en étonner quand on voit la montée de la violence sexiste aux quatre coins de la planète. Qu’il s’agisse de femmes manquantes, comme en Inde ou en Chine où l’on avorte systématiquement des fœtus féminins, de "l’épidémie" de violence maritale dans les pays occidentaux alors que le viol tarifé dans la prostitution y est de plus en plus banalisé et légalisé. La vie d’une femme ne vaut décidément pas cher en ce début du 21e siècle qui devait être marqué par le triomphe de la démocratie et la répartition équitable de la richesse mondiale. Alors que le système capitaliste néolibéral fait l’objet de critiques virulentes, il y a une énorme tolérance face au système patriarcal, responsable de tant d’injustices et de violences au nom de la suprématie masculine, de la tradition et de la religion.
Pas moins de 13 compagnies minières canadiennes ont des actifs de 1,5 milliard de dollars en République démocratique du Congo, nous apprend l’émission Maisonneuve en direct, du 12 octobre 2007. L’animateur a réussi le tour de force d’examiner d’un œil critique le comportement des compagnies canadiennes dans ce pays "si instable" sans souffler mot du sort réservé aux Congolaises. C’est au Congo que les investissements miniers canadiens sont les plus considérables. Un puissant moyen d’action serait d’exiger du gouvernement canadien qu’il force les compagnies minières à se retirer de ce pays tant qu’il n’aura pas mis fin à la violence envers les femmes et les fillettes et au massacre comme moyen de résoudre les conflits.
La cinéaste Lisa F. Jackson a tenté pour sa part d’alerter l’opinion mondiale sur ce fémicide dans un film intitulé The Greatest Silence : Rape in the Congo. Dans ce film bouleversant, des femmes courageuses brisent le silence sur ce qu’elles ont vécu.
On peut également appuyer les organisations de femmes congolaises qui luttent sur le terrain comme le fait Christine Schuler Deschryver ou l’Unicef qui a lancé une campagne : "Arrêtez de violer notre plus grande ressource : pouvoir aux femmes et aux filles de la République démocratique du Congo." Ou téléphoner au Premier Ministre Harper : (613) 992-4211, ou lui envoyer un courriel, ainsi qu’à notre député-e en exigeant que le gouvernement fasse pression au plan international pour mettre fin au fémicide dans la République démocratique du Congo.
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