God Loves Uganda gets 4-star review in Ottawa Citizen!

Our Next Film - February 11th God Loves Uganda 4-star review in the Ottawa Citizen! God Loves Uganda February 11th, 2014 Library & Archives, Main Auditorium 395 Wellington, Ottawa 7:00 PM Admission:  $20 ($10 students).  All tickets available at the door. God Loves Uganda explores the role of the American evangelical movement in Uganada, where American missionaries have been credited with both creating schools and hospitals and also promoting dangerous religious bigotry. God Loves Uganda - Official Trailer | HD The film follows evangelical leaders as they attempt the task of eliminating 'sexual sin' and converting Ugandans to their brand of fundamentalist Christianity. As an American-influenced bill to make homosexuality punishable by death wins widespread support, tension in Uganda mounts and an atmosphere of murderous hatred takes hold. The film reveals the conflicting motives of faith and greed, ecstasy and egotism, among Ugandan ministers, American evangelical leaders and the foot soldiers of a theology that sees Uganda as ground zero in a battle for billions of souls. Through verité, interviews, and hidden camera footage - and with unprecedented access - God Loves Uganda takes viewers inside the evangelical movement in both the US and Uganda. Shocking, horrifying, touching and enlightening, God Loves Uganda will make you question what you thought you knew about religion. It offers a portrait of Lou Engle, creator of The Call, a public event that brings tens of thousands of believers together to pray against sexual sin. It provides a rare view of the most powerful evangelical minister in Uganda, who lives in a mansion where he's served by a white-coated chef. It goes into a Ugandan church where a preacher whips a congregation into mass hysteria with anti-gay rhetoric. God Loves Uganda records the culture clash between enthusiastic Midwestern missionaries and world weary Ugandans. It features a heartbreaking interview with gay activist David Kato shortly before he was murdered. It tells the moving story of Bishop Christopher Senyonjo, a minister excommunicated, ostracized and literally spat on for being tolerant - and chronicles his remarkable campaign for peace and healing in Uganda. Shocking, horrifying, touching and enlightening, God Loves Uganda will make you question what you thought you knew about religion. ********************************************************************* The Ottawa Citizen just gave this film a 4-star review! There's a scene in the documentary God Loves Uganda in which an anti-homosexuality advocate - part of a right-wing American evangelical movement that is bringing its fundamentalist message to Africa - shows a gay porn film to a Ugandan audience. Homosexuals, he informs the crowd, "want to eat our children's poo-poo." It would be funny, in a Monty Pythonesque kind of way, if we didn't see the angry crowd being riled to action. They want blood and in the course of the film, they get it. God Loves Uganda was filmed around the time gay activist David Kato was bludgeoned to death. Meanwhile the country's parliament was considering laws that would send gays to prison for life; a second offence would bring the death penalty. God Loves Uganda argues that these attitudes have been imported into the country as part of fundamentalist Christian morality, mostly from a group called International House of Prayer. It is a Missouri-based organization that dispatches corn-fed young Americans to Africa to educate the natives about what God wants. We see them - innocent, sincere, swaying with the glory of the Word, occasionally chattering in tongues - visiting African villages to speak to baffled-looking natives. More insidious are their leaders, people like Scott Lively, an American activist who says gays are recruiting children for their own pederast reasons. Lively met with the Ugandan parliament for five hours to talk about an anti-homosexuality bill. We meet Lou Engle, another leader, who warns of moral chaos if homosexuality and premarital sex are let loose on the continent. (Engle said Proposition Eight, to give rights to gays in California, unleashed a spirit "that is more demonic than Islam.") A Ugandan pastor named Robert Kayanja, who owns a large home in Kampala and also lives part time in Dallas, manages to mention financial help in most of his statements. They've all been interviewed by Roger Ross Williams (who also directed the Oscar-winning Music by Prudence documentary). Williams mostly lets the subjects speak their minds and allows us to decide what is happening. Occasionally, there is a narrator of sorts: Kapya Kaoma, an Anglican priest now living in Boston, says he had to flee Uganda in fear for his life because he opposes the repressive brand of religion being preached there. Christian missionaries gained influence in the country after Idi Amin was overthrown and religious groups stepped in to help build churches, set up orphanages and feed the hungry. Now, Kaoma says, the country is in danger of being destroyed by groups that flock there, drawn by a belief that Uganda, the Pearl of Africa, is of special interest to the Almighty. Along with spreading the Gospels, they are spreading an agenda of extremism that includes a perilous campaign to fight the spread of HIV/AIDS through abstinence, rather than the use of condoms. Ugandan clergyman and gay rights activist Christopher Senyonjo, who was excommunicated by his own church, is one of the voices of compassion in the movie, but he appears to be fighting a losing battle. It's hard to say: Williams is weak on context, and it's difficult to gauge the level of support for International House of Prayer among the general population. However, the depiction of moral imperialism is frightening and infuriating. While Uganda's parliament considers an anti-homosexuality bill, which would mandate the death penalty for serial "offenders," Western-supported megachurches flourish in the African country. Roger Ross Williams' incisive and absorbing documentary "God Loves Uganda" makes a compelling case for the link between the two situations without connecting all the dots for viewers, and without condemning the young missionaries who flock to "the pearl of Africa" believing they are saving souls.  Williams' alarm is balanced by his measured observation of a group of twentysomethings from the Kansas City-based International House of Prayer. The Pentecostal Christian group deploys missionaries worldwide, with a special zeal for Africa. The youthful proselytizers' sincerity is evident, but the film emphasizes that such earnestness doesn't preclude condescension - their encounters with locals, in which they threaten sinners with hell, are thoroughly dispiriting. - Sheri Linden, Los Angeles Times Our Film on March 24th  Honor Diaries  Tickets Available at the door, and tickets are now available for purchase at Compact Music (785 Bank, 206 Bank). Monday, March 24th, 7:00 PM Library & Archives Main Auditorium Admission:  $20 ($10 students). Film, Panel discussion, and reception Don't miss the Ottawa premiere of this important film.  We will also have a panel discussion with Muslim women who participated in this film. Honor Diaries features nine courageous women's rights advocates with connections to Muslim-majority societies who are engaged in a dialogue about gender inequality. Honor Diaries - Official Trailer These women, who have witnessed firsthand the hardships women endure, are profiled in their efforts to affect change, both in their communities and beyond. The film gives a platform to exclusively female voices and seeks to expose the paralyzing political correctness that prevents many from identifying, understanding and addressing this international human rights disaster.  Freedom of movement, the right to education, forced marriage, and female genital mutilation are some of the systematic abuses explored in depth. Spurred by the Arab Spring, women who were once silent are starting to speak out about gender inequality and are bringing visibility to a long history of oppression. This project draws together leading women's rights activists and provides a platform where their voices can be heard and serves as inspiration to motivate others to speak out. More than a movie, Honor Diaries is a movement meant to inspire viewers to learn more about issues facing women in Muslim-majority societies, and to act for change.