Conflict in the Congo: Lumo Documentary Screening
Begins |
7 Mar 2008 - 6:00pm |
| Ends |
7 Mar 2008 - 8:00pm |
| Location |
66 W 12th St, Room 404 |
Lumo: One woman's struggle to heal in a nation beset by war
The agonies of war torn Africa are deeply etched in the bodies of
women. In eastern Congo, vying militias, armies and bandits use rape as
a weapon of terror.
Recently engaged to a young man from her village, 20 year-old Lumo
Sinai couldn't wait to have children and start a family. But when she
crossed paths with marauding soldiers who brutally attacked her, she
was left with a fistula - a condition that has rendered her incontinent
and threatens her ability to give birth in the future. Rejected by her
fiancé and cast aside by her family, Lumo found her way to the one
place that may save her: a hospital for rape survivors set on the
border with Rwanda.
Buoyed by the love of the hospital staff, and a formidable team of wise women known to all as "the Mamas," Lumo and her friends keep the hope of one day resuming their former lives, thanks to an operation that can restore them fully to health. A feisty young woman with a red comb perpetually jutting from her hair, Lumo faces the challenge of recovery with remarkable courage and sass. As she and her friends recover from surgery, they pass the days by gossiping and sharing their dreams of one day finding love.
But when it looks like her operation may have failed, Lumo's faith is thrown entirely into question.
On this uncertain road to recovery, Lumo shows that the solidarity of women can bind the most irreparable of wounds.
We are extremely delighted to have the Director/Producer of Lumo join us for this event. Bent-Jorgen Perlmutt will introduce his documentary and take questions afterwards.
This event is part of the Conflict in the Congo Series.
Bent-Jorgen Perlmutt (Director/Producer) holds a BA
with honors in Screenwriting from Brown University and an MFA with
honors from Columbia University (2007). He served as the co-producer
and additional editor of CONTROL ROOM (Magnolia Pictures, 2004). He has also directed, edited, shot and/or produced films for organizations including UNIFEM, The U.S. Department of Education, WGBH, The Global Leadership Campaign, and the Lincoln Center Film Society. Last year, Bent-Jorgen taught an undergraduate course on documentary filmmaking at Columbia University and worked with WITNESS
as a field trainer for human rights lawyers in Northern Uganda and is
currently a correspondent for UNICEF. His latest fiction film, LES
VULNERABLES, was just selected to be the closing night short of the
2007 New York Film Festival.