Ugandan Child Soldiers Film Wins at Sundance

Our good friends Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine took home the Best Directing in a Documentary award at the Sundance Film Festival this week. War/Dance tells the story of three former child soldiers in northern Uganda, following them through a music competition (watch a clip). CGD was fortunate to get a preview glimpse of the film last year when Sean joined us on a panel, along with Uzo Iweala, author of Beasts of No Nation. Art forms like film and novels, when done thoughtfully, can even complement the academic research (such as, The Consequences of Child Soldiering, a paper on child soldiers being presented at CGD today) by bringing development issues to a wider audience. To my mind, the best book on the World Bank is no academic paper, but rather Michael Holman’s Last Orders at Harrods. War/Dance is scheduled for a wider release this fall. Watch this space for info on DC showings.