Santa Fe Film Festival 2009

The country of Sudan has endured civil war for more than three quarters of its existence as an independent nation. For the last twenty years Southern Sudan has suffered one of the most violent civil wars of modern history. Southern rebels, the Sudan People’s Liberation Army or SPLA, have held out against a well-funded, well-equipped northern army. But they did so at great cost. All told 2 million people are dead and 4 million are in exile. In January of 2005 a war-weary Khartoum signed a peace treaty with the SPLA, granting Southern Sudan autonomy for six years, to be followed by a referendum that will determine the fate of Southern Sudan. This six year interim period has become a time when the people of the south dare to hope.After 20 years of terror-filled nights, there is dawn in Southern Sudan.The people of the land peek out from the doorways of their huts. They ask each other, “Will the sun stay? Will there be morning tomorrow and the next day?”The long war is over. Southern Sudan becomes New Sudan. Peace treaties are inked and enemies shake hands. But other wars still rage. The war of awakening hope against the habit of despair. The war of new alliances against decades of mistrust. The war of joyful homecoming against the lack of homes remaining. Above all, it is a war for the human heart against the heart of darkness.