AIXR VRAwards 2019 ‘VR Social Impact Award’ finalist

LOGLINE

CHILDREN DO NOT PLAY WAR is a cinematic Virtual Reality tale of the war in Uganda told through the eyes of a young girl.

SYNOPSIS

Aloyo, a twelve years-old girl living in Lira, Uganda, sits among other children around the fire to tell their story during war, what they saw, where they went. Mixing early oral storytelling tradition and contemporary Virtual Reality narrative, blending fiction and non-fiction elements, CHILDREN DO NOT PLAY WAR narrates the memories, dreams and daily lives of the children who returned from the war and about how they recovered their childhood.

 

 

 

 

 

 

BACKGROUND

Over decades, at least 60,000 children were abducted from their villages by the Lord’s Resistance Army and forced to become soldiers or soldier’s wives in a violent guerrilla war across Uganda and Central Africa. Some children spent more than their entire youth marching through the bushes.

All the characters in CHILDREN DO NOT PLAY WAR suffered directly or indirectly the consequences of war, facing stigmatization and prejudice for having been soldiers or, like our narrator Aloyo, for being born in captivity. They are now under the care of Children of Peace Uganda and Go Campaign, organizations who provide humanitarian aid for war-affected children.

 

 

 

 

Their story take place in rural Northern Uganda, in one of CPU’s farms where through financial, social and psychological assistance the children learn to become themselves again. Their tale is highlighted by the music of Opira Morise Kato, an Acholi songwriter who composed and played his songs with instruments made by himself, and who was also one of the many children who escaped the LRA rebels. He sings about children’s education, rehabilitation and world peace.

DIRECTOR’S BIO

Fabiano Mixo is a Brazilian filmmaker and multimedia artist. He was born and raised in the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro — far away from the beaches —and studied new media arts at EAV Parque Lage in Rio and Filmmaking at FilmArche in Berlin. In the past years his work has been exhibited in several art and film festivals worldwide and has won many awards including the Lumen Prize Audience Award and German Film Critics Award at the European Media Art Festival. He is the founder and CEO of VILD Studio, a new production company based in Rio de Janeiro specializing in motion pictures and immersive experiences.

 

 

 

 

STUDIO: VILD Studio