“HEART OF THE CONGO: REBUILDING LIFE IN THE FACE OF WAR”

FIT’s College-Wide Committee on Diversity & Action Against Hunger Present a documentary film screening & panel discussion during Women’s History Month

[USPRwire, Sat Mar 11 2006] When award winning, Bay Area filmmaker Tom Weidlinger came down with malaria and pneumonia while filming in a remote outpost of war-torn eastern Congo, he simply hoped to make it back home to his alive. The irony of his situation was that while many of the women and children he was filming experienced a similar hope for survival, many stricken with serious illnesses, none of them had the option of being airlifted to a proper hospital. This observation marks a turning point in the documentary film Heart of the Congo. Organized by the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) College-Wide Committee on Diversity; FIT’s Advertising and Communications Department; and Action Against Hunger, the screening highlights a clear-eyed examination of courage, hope, perseverance and ways in which humanitarian aid can make a lasting difference.

Screening on Tuesday, March 14, at 6:00PM, in FIT’s Katie Murphy Amphitheatre, Heart of the Congo moves beyond the stereotypical iconography of poor, starving Africans, and the cliché of saint-like aid workers. It raises this question; how do international aid groups create sustainable ways for the recipients of their largesse to take back their destinies after these groups have gone? The “heartwarming but unsentimental documentary suggests an answer” to this tantalizing question, as stated by Phillip Fradkin, former foreign correspondent of the Los Angeles Times.

The film focuses on a field operation of the international aid organization Action Against Hunger (ACF), whose Nutritional Centers provide aid to large numbers of women and children in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Following the screening, a panel discussion will take place focused on ways to bring water and food to women and children during times of crisis. Moderated by Emmy award-winning reporter Jonathan Dienst of NBC, panelists include Action Against Hunger staff; Cathy Skoula, Executive Director; David Blanc, Program Director; and Dr. Desiree Koslin, Director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching of Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT).

“Most of the images we see from Congo are of the death and destruction,” says Adam Hochschild, author of King Leopold’s Ghost, the international bestseller about Congo’s colonial past. “But this unusual film shows us something else as well: the process of trying to help a community rebuild. With uncommon honesty and no sentimentality, it shows both the difficulties and the absolute necessity of creative humanitarian aid projects in a country recovering from catastrophe.”

“My hope is that people walk away from this event with a greater understanding of the difficult and delicate task of humanitarian aid,” Weidlinger says. “I'd like people to experience Heart of the Congo as interesting and entertaining, and to be inspired toward social action if they aren't already.”

For more information, visit http://www.actionagainsthunger.org/events/events.html. To preview the film, interview Weidlinger or any of the panelists, please contact Rolando Brown at 646.421.9574.


Directions

The Katie Murphy Amphitheatre
Corner of 27th Street & 7th Ave
1st Floor of Building D
New York, NY 10001
Note: This venue is wheelchair accessible.

By Train: Take the 1 / 9 or the N / R to the 28th Street Station. Take the A, C, E, or F to the 23rd Street Station or the 34th Street Station.
By Bus: Take the Crosstown bus at 23rd Street or 34th Street. Take the 7th Avenue or 8th Avenue bus.

Admission:

This event is FREE, though seats are very LIMITED. RSVP to press@actionagainsthunger.org.

About Heart of The Congo

In the Heart of the Congo, at the end of a war, a handful of aid workers try to help refugees who have lost everything. European and Congolese staff train heath workers, mobilize villagers to dig wells for clean water, and nurse children with acute malnutrition back to health. Beyond emergency measures, the aid workers struggle to promote and encourage the will and actions needed for a self-sufficient future. They face violence from roving militia bands, systemic corruption, and a legacy of colonial dependency. The entire operation is threatened when health centers are pillaged and health workers are held hostage for ransom. When the filmmaker comes down with malaria, two aid workers pick up his camera and continue to skillfully document their work. Heart of the Congo is a film about courage, hope, perseverance and ways in which humanitarian aid can make a lasting difference.

About Against Hunger

Action Against Hunger provides relief, recovery, and rehabilitation services to more than 5 million people a year, specializing in emergency situations of war, conflict, and natural disaster. Our life-saving programs integrate activities in nutrition, water and sanitation, food security, health care, and advocacy, while our international network offers a broad array of global surveillance, rapid-response, and emergency preparedness capabilities.

About FIT’s College-Wide Committee on Diversity

The mission of the committee is to encourage and facilitate diversity and a climate of openness, understanding and inclusion at Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT). FIT is a college of art and design, business and technology of the State University of New York. The college offers more than 30 majors leading to the AAS, BFA, BS, MA, and MPS degrees. FIT serves more than 12,000 students in such diverse areas as interior design, advertising and marketing communications, fashion design, and fashion merchandising management.