9th May, 2008
23 Jan 2008 
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today that War/Dance, which features an interview with AMREF Uganda’s Country Director, Joshua Kyallo, has been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. War/Dance was made by Shine Global Inc. and directed by Andrea Nix Fine and Sean Fine of Fine Films.
Set against the backdrop of Northern Uganda’s 20 year war during which 30,000 children have been abducted by the notorious rebel group the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), War/Dance tells the story of three children, Dominic, Rose and Nancy – and their schoolmates in the Patongo Internally Displaced Camp as they take an historic journey to Kampala to compete in Uganda’s national school dance and music festival – of which AMREF Uganda is a major sponsor.
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) 90% of Northern Uganda’s nearly 1.7 million people (1.3 million people) have been displaced from their homes and are living in camps. The Uganda AIDS Commission (UAC) recently reported that there are nearly 180 camps in the region with population ranging from 5,000 – 65,000 people. The camps lack adequate water and sanitary facilities, medical care and other basic necessities.
“We are so very proud to have AMREF’s work included in the miraculous documentary War/Dance. In wars children are often silent casualties – and this incredible film gives them a necessary voice,” said Lisa Meadowcroft, Executive Director of AMREF USA. The documentary War/Dance offers a ray of hope amid utter devastation – and illustrates poignantly the resilience of the human condition.
Next month, Mena Suvari, AMREF USA’s Goodwill Ambassador, will be traveling to Northern Uganda to visit AMREF projects.
