On Thursday the 27th of May, Femke en Ilse van Velzen received in Amsterdam the prestigious Dick Scherpenzeel Award for best Dutch Journalistic production for their documentary ?Weapon of War, confessions of rape in Congo were perpetrators reveille their motives to rape in wartimes?.



The Jury, chaired by former correspondent of the newspaper NRC Handelsblad Froukje Santing, ruled that the filmmakers captured ?the complete helplessness of reconciliation in a country that is torn apart by violence and rape?. ?The message, the theme and the cinematographic moments fall magnificently together. This is a journalistic production off the highest level.?

The Dick Scherpenzeel Prize is annually awarded to journalistic productions that provide an insight into developmental issues and/or about non-western countries. Previous winners of the Dick Scherpenzeel Prize are: radio reporter Jacqueline Maris, Dick Wittenberg NRC journalist, photographer Kadir van Lohuijzen, freelance Tjitske Lingsma and journalist Joris Luyendijk. .

For more information: http://www.scherpenzeel.org/

We are very happy to announce that Weapon of War will be broadcasted on the Belgium television (VRT/CANVAS).

WEAPON OF WAR
VRT/Canvas, program Panorama (België 2)
Sunday 30th of MAY at 20:10.

For more information: canvas

On the 11th of May we travelled to New York to show Weapon of War and start networking there. We started our first day in the Big Apple with a film screening organized by the Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the United Nations, UniFem and UN Action. The diverse audience consisted of UN ambassadors and personnel, civil society partners, the NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security and journalists. We managed to reach a very big target audience.

After the screening of Weapon of War we joined a panel discussion with special guests from the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Sexual Violence in Conflict, the Permanent Mission of the Netherlands, and Major General Patrick Cammaert, former Force Commander of MONUC in Eastern Congo.

Because this screening had been fully booked within a day, we decided together with the Dutch Permanent Mission to organize a second screening for the following week. In short, the film was very well received.

On our first day in Washington, DC we had various meetings including one at the U.S. Department of State with the policy advisor for Africa at the Secretary?s Office of Global Women?s Issues. Together we looked for possible future platforms to screen Weapon of War.

The next day we had a film screening at the United States Institute of Peace as part of a conference on the gender dimensions of conflict, especially how conflict changes gender roles. One of the focal points of the conference was the importance of understanding the motives of perpetrators that commit gender-based violence in conflicts. Weapon of War complemented this theme perfectly and was very well received. After his introduction of the film and filmmakers, Major General Patrick Cammaert joined us for a panel discussion after the film.

We worked around the clock on our ten-day trip to the United States to meet as many people as possible and create a network for our future endeavours. With the 10th anniversary of UNSCR Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security coming up in October 2010, we are now working hard with the organisations and governments we met in the USA to see how we can use our film Weapon of War to draw more attention to the ever-worsening situation in Congo. We hope to return to the United States this Fall to raise yet more awareness on the topic of sexual violence.

At the 7th Planet Doc Review Film Festival in Warsaw, Poland, our documentary WEAPON OF WAR received the Amnesty International Award.

We are very proud to win this award and be acknowledged for the hard work we and our film crew have put into this film. It also gives us strength to continue the fight against sexual violence.

The Jury?s comments:
?The Jury recognizes the subtlety with which the film portrays the crime of rape committed on thousands of women in the wartime Republic of Congo. The film is a stirring record of a reconciliation process, in which the camera plays an essential part. The filmmakers go beyond mere description of the crimes, searching for solutions that would allow the victims and perpetrators to reclaim their sense of dignity.?

We thank the festival, the Jury and the great Polish audience that participated in this important festival.

We were invited to show Weapon of War at a special parallel event at the 13th Session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva on 23rd March. The organisation Femmes Africa Solidarité organized this parallel event to talk and debate about the situation of women in the DRC, under the title ?Women in the DRC: The Context of Abuse. What They Face, Why, and How to Progress?. After the film, we joined a debate with panel members: Mr. Richard Lukunda, Assistant to the Minister of Human Rights in DRC. Mrs. Bente Angell-Hansen, Ambassador of the Norwegian Permanent Mission to the UN in Geneva. Mr. Scott Campbell, Head of Africa Field Programs of OHCHR. Yao Agbetse, International Advocacy and Training Director, Franciscans International.

After our visit to Geneva, we flew straight to London to show our film Weapon of War at different Universities. Firstly Weapon of War was screened at the Human Rights Centre / University of Essex in Colchester and subsequently at the School of Advanced Study / University of London. We were present to give an introduction and after the film we answered questions from the audience. Showing our films at Universities is very important for us, because students are the future and they have great spirits and enthusiasm to help us in the fight against sexual violence in the DRC. We hope to start new University tours soon in many other countries.

Last week, Ilse & Femke travelled to Stockholm by invitation of the Swedish Military Armed Forces and the Swedish Parliament to share their knowledge about the ongoing sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. During their visit, their documentary Weapon of War was screened and followed by debates at the Swedish Parliament and the national Defence College.

Ms. Gunilla Carlsson, the Swedish Minister of Development, gave an inspiring speech about the need for the European Union and the Swedish Government in particular to do more to end the conflict.

After a successful IDFA, we have been working very hard to get the documentary out in the world. We have submitted Weapon of War to more than 60 film festivals worldwide and will continue doing this for other upcoming festivals.

Our goal is to reach as many people as possible. The film has been selected already for many festivals. Check the list on weaponofwar.nl.

Last Saturday the 21st of November Weapon of War had it’s world premiere in a sold out Tuschinski 1 at IDFA in Amsterdam. After a beautiful speech from the Minister for Development, Bert Koenders, we watched the film together with 800 friends, family and colleagues for the very first time.

From now on WEAPON OF WAR will travel from festival to festival all over the world. If you want to know more about where the film is screening, check our NEW website once in a while: www.weaponofwar.nl

On Friday the 20th of November we put the focus back on the situation in Congo as guests in the TV Talkshow ‘Pauw & Wittenman’ on Dutch Television Channel NED 1.

Presenters Jeroen Pauw & Paul Wittenman will talk with us about our new documentary Weapon of War that will premiere during the IDFA in Amsterdam. Talk show starts LIVE from 23:00 hrs till 00:00 hrs on Channel NED 1

In a news item we share our experiences of making our new documentary Weapon of War. Watch it tonight the 18th of November on Channel NED 3 at 22:50 (after sport news).

We are very proud to announce that our new documentary ‘WEAPON OF WAR’ has its world premiere during the 22nd edition of the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), the largest documentary film festival in the world.

You can expect the invitation for the world premiere soon!

AL JAZEERA English bought our film Fighting the Silence at the beginning of this year. Right now it is broadcast on their documentary channel ?Witness?. Presenter Rageh Omaar talked with us in an exclusive interview in London about the challenges we encountered in making the film and how we brought the film back to Congo.

Click on this link to watch the interview: http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/witness/
2009/05/2009513173056333810.html
Be aware, the interview is devided into 4 parts