Seeking Refuge Movie

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Meet Souleymane Guengueng (pictured above.) Twenty-five years ago, he was jailed and tortured by the ruthless regime of Chadian dictator Hissène Habré, who was supported by President Reagan and a number of European countries. A 65-year-old devout Christian, he promised God that if he got out of prison alive he would bring Habré to justice. Souleymane is one of SEEKING REFUGE’s main characters.

INTRO SEEKING REFUGE is a character-driven film that is being shot in five countries over six years. It is the first longitudinal film to introduce audiences to torture survivors who are on a life-long journey to overcome unimaginable cruelty. The film goes below the surface to intimately reveal the emotional, psychological and intellectual vicissitudes of the healing process, and in so doing, contextualizes the social and political forces that give rise to a culture of human rights abuses.

Through its finely textured, multi-dimensional storylines, SEEKING REFUGE dramatically and compassionately explores torture in concrete human terms by following the trajectories of five main characters (two are primary and three are secondary.) While the heart of their stories takes place in the U.S., the film interweaves vérité footage, archival material and impressionistic imagery with inner monologue and an evocative soundtrack to traverse between the horrors of our survivors’ pasts and their present-day challenges. To gain insight into their backstories (when safe to do so), the follows them back to the countries they once called home, thus bringing the past full-circle to the present.

WHY NOW One of the most efficient means of control is to terrorize individuals and communities into passivity, submission and silence. One way to exert t...

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...ection of Ibero-American Cinema in North America. In the process she created one of thee Miami Encuentross, a program to help emerging Ibero-American producers.

During the last six years Guillemet has been the Program Director for both the Dominican Republic Global Film Festival and the Costa Rica International Film Festival. She has also worked as an executive consultant for various international festivals such as the Middle East International Film Festival, Bahamas International Film Festival, and ESAV, the Marrakech School of Film and Design, which supports new Arabic cinema.
She serves on national boards of a number of arts organizations including Women Make Movies and is a frequent juror and panelist for a wide range of international festivals. Guillemet has participated on funding panels including the National Endowment for the Arts and the Rolex Foundation.

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