Members of the Richmond-based Humanity Helping Sudan Project will be in Washington tonight (April 1) for a free screening of the 2014 film The Good Lie, about Sudanese refugees given a chance to resettle in America. The event from 5:45 to 8 p.m. is co-sponsored by the World Bank-IMF Young African Society and takes place at the World Bank Headquarters, Preston Auditorium, as part of its Africa Film Series. A special project by World Bank’s Africa Region, the film series aims to present and discuss new development perspectives in film and video from Sub Saharan Africa.
There will be a wine and cheese reception before the event at 5 p.m. and a Q&A session after the screening with actor Ger Duany who plays “Jeremiah” in the film. Duany was born in Akobo, South Sudan, and was forcefully recruited as a child soldier. He fled to Ethiopia at the age of 14, and then made his way to Kenya. (Read more about him in this NPR report.) At 16, he finally found refuge in the United States as one of the “Lost Boys” of Sudan (the name given to more than 20,000 children, mostly boys, who were separated from their families in the war-torn nation). He made his debut as an actor in the 2004 David O. Russell film, I Heart Huckabees, and has since appeared in other films in addition to his modeling career. The Good Lie also stars Reese Witherspoon, with Ron Howard and Brian Glazer among its producers.
This screening will be the second of four for Duany and Humanity Helping Sudan’s founder, Manyang Reath Kher. The first took place at Virginia Commonwealth University on March 21.
Kher himself was a “Lost Boy” who came to the United States in 2005 from Ethiopia. He started the nonprofit Humanity Helping Sudan in order to assist his brethren back home, promoting self-sustainability of the Sudanese in addition to raising awareness about their plight.
Donations made during the events benefit Humanity Helping Sudan’s mission of establishing self-sustainability for over 40,000 displaced South Sudanese refugees.
More than 300 guests from Washington’s diplomatic, academic and political development communities, in addition to members of the South African Diaspora are expected to attend the District of Columbia screening.
The next screening will be held at the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut on April 2, followed by one at the Bijou Theatre in Pasadena, California, on May 22.
Pre-registration for tonight's event is required online at worldbankfilmscreening.eventbrite.com or by calling (202) 473-3072. For more information and the most up-to-date event schedule, visit humanityhelpingsudanproject.org.
Associate editor Nicole Cohen contributed to this report.
