BB Video: "Christmas in Darfur" — Not "Yet Another" Darfur Documentary

Derek Bledsoe, Boing Boing Video producer, is blogging daily Boing Boing Video episodes while Xeni's on the road in Africa.

For all the charity and humanitarian aid that's been poured into the Darfur region, and all of the celebrities pleading for change — it seems nothing has changed. People are still dying, atrocities continue, and the war worsens. This sense of futility is what makes the project we're sharing with you today so interesting.

The ultra-low-budget documentary "Christmas in Darfur?" follows the challenges two amateur filmmakers (and their limited crew) face as they attempt to make a film about what it was like for aid workers to spend their holiday season in this war-torn African desert. Boing Boing Video guest correspondent Sean Bonner interviewed the film's director Jason Mojica about that experience, and we bring you that conversation today, along with clips from the finished film.

Driven by the desire to understand the gap between all the global attention to Darfur and the worsening conditions there — and with no experience in filmmaking, or any connections in Africa — the filmmakers' guileless approach takes them deep into the refugee camps of Chad and Sudan.

"Christmas in Darfur?" is about an hour long and available online for anyone to freely view, embed, or dowload. You can watch the full film online at christmasindarfur.org. And you can make a donation to the filmmakers, if you are so moved — they're still trying to recoup the costs of making the film. Look for the PayPal link on the left side of this page.

UPDATE: According the the AP two British aid agencies working in Sudan, Oxfam GB and Save the Children UK, have had their licenses revoked and have been asked to suspend operations only hours after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir.

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