Director: Ilse van Velzen and Femke van Velzen, 2007, The Netherlands, 53min
Venue: Renoir Cinema
UK Première

More than 80,000 women and girls were raped in the Democratic Republic of Congo during the war that raged there in the late 1990’s. A taboo subject in the Congo, as in many countries, victims were often shunned by their families and communities. As a result, rape has now become not just a weapon of war but a part of the culture in which young men and women are raised.

Survivors tell of the brutality they experienced, husbands talk of the pressures that led them to abandon their wives. A father explains why he has given up on his daughter’s future. Soldiers and policemen share their often shocking views about why rape continues to flourish in the Congo, despite the war having officially ended in 2003.

Fighting the Silence tells the story of ordinary people offering a glimmer of hope in their struggle to change society.

TICKETS
£7.00/6.00 from the Curzon Cinemas Box Office: 0871 703 3991
www.curzoncinemas.com