Mobile Cinema reaches large audiences in the Kivus

Mobile Cinema screening in Walungu

Last week we showed IF Productions’ latest film, Weapon of War for SFCG DC staffers. The film is currently showing in the DRC by way of the mobile cinema project that Search is coordinating. 

The Mobile Cinema project arose through a collaboration between IF Productions, Whyze Communications and Search for Common Ground Productions based on a 2006 IF Productions documentary film entitled “Fighting the Silence” on sexual violence in South Kivu.   Together, these groups developed the Mobile Cinema project in order to integrate footage from the film to reinforce sensitization work in FARDC* units and local communities in North and South Kivu. The mobile cinema is part of SFCG DRC’s “Tomorrow is a New Day” project which trains committees of reform-minded FARDC soldiers to raise awareness of human rights and reform in their own battalions.

 *FARDC is the Congolese military and stands for “Forces Armées de la République Démocratique du Congo”

The public screenings use a portable three-by-four meter screen, projector and loudspeakers to reach audiences ranging from 2,000 to 5,000 in a single open-air nighttime screening. Sub-films are also shown on a smaller screen for indoor sessions. Sub films are edited hour-long versions of the film used for the public screening, and are divided into segments to enable discussion around key questions. A Facilitation Guide presents questions to guide discussions in a way that reinforces key messages in the film and focuses on local context.

In this phase of the “Tomorrow is a New Day” project, the FARDC committees organized and implemented 56 screenings reaching an audience of over 62 thousand soldiers and civilians featuring rich discussions with the participation of women and girls as well as soldiers and officers. SFCG equipped the 8^th and 10^th Military region steering committees with materials to project films in front of groups of hundreds of soldiers and officers: a projector, DVD player, sound system, and generator to enable the committees to reach military groups even in rural locations. So far the project has targeted North and South Kivu, where the prevalence of sexual violence is most acute. 

NEXT STEPS:  

The most significant development of “Tomorrow is a New Day” will be an expansion of its educational cinema projects, building upon the success of the Mobile Cinema.  If Productions’ earlier film on sexual violence in the Congo, Fighting the Silence, has been edited to create several sub-films on related subjects of sexual taboos, impunity for politico-military authorities, and sexual morals, customs, and prejudices.  

SFCG anticipates rolling out these films in North and South Kivu, reaching at least 5,000 and as many as 14,400 troops through 72 screenings in the following semester, followed by expansion to the other provinces.