Emil Langballe, Lukasz Konopa and Face2Face host David Peck talk about their new film Theatre of Violence, Christianity and conflict, radicalization,

nature versus nurture, restorative justice, government oppression, and why retributive justice doesn’t work.

Watch the trailer here and head to Hot Docs for more information.

Synopsis:

Can you be an executioner and a victim at the same time? At the age of 9, Ayena's client, Dominique Ongwen, became one of at least 20.000 children abducted by rebel leader Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in Uganda. Ongwen was brainwashed by Kony, who used a combination of Christianity, witchcraft and torture to turn the children into loyal LRA soldiers in the rebellion against president, Yoweri Museveni.

Ongwen quickly learned that it was a matter of kill or be killed - and he rose to the rank of commander before one day surrendering to the authorities and the following prosecution in The Hague. He is charged with 70 different counts of crimes, including torture, rape and murder. But his defence lawyer, Ayena, wants him acquitted because he believes Ongwen is not responsible for the way his life turned out. In addition, the outcome of the trial threatens to reopen old wounds at home in Uganda seeing that Ongwen and the LRA are part of the Acholi people of northern Uganda, where Kony founded his brutal army in response to the equally brutal crackdown on the Acholi people by the incumbent president, Museveni.

Personally, Ayena has a lot at stake. He must not only get justice for his client and his people - but also try to explain to the Western-based International Criminal Court what kind of country Uganda is, and what the potential consequences of the verdict might be.

About Emil and Lukasz:

Lukasz Konopa has a master’s degree in Documentary Film Directing from the UK’s National Film and Television School (NFTS) and an MA in sociology from the University of Warsaw, Poland.

His documentaries have been featured at festivals, such as Hot Docs, Camerimage, Visions du Reel and SXSW. His film After won the CILECT Best Documentary film award, which is chosen by the association of the world’s major film and television schools. Currently splitting his time between Tel Aviv, where he works as a cinematographer on documentaries produced by one of Israel’s top production companies, Heymann Brothers Films; and Denmark where he has just completed his first feature length documentary with Made in Copenhagen.

Emil Langballe graduated from UK's National Film and Television School in 2013. His graduation film Beach Boy was honoured at such film festivals as Karlovy Vary, Thessaloniki, Tampere and Hot Docs. The Wait premiered at IDFA. His latest films Q's Barbershop and A Married Couple both premiered in competition at CPH: DOX.

Image Copyright: Emil Langballe, Lukasz Konopa & Dogwoof Films.

F2F Music and Image Copyright: David Peck and Face2Face. Used with permission.

For more information about David Peck’s podcasting, writing and public speaking please visit his site here.

With thanks to Josh Snethlage and Mixed Media Sound.

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