After the infamous release of Invisible Childrenโs Kony 2012, the name Joseph Kony has become ubiquitous.
Yet, like most mass media sensations, Kony coverage ceased almost as quickly as it appeared.
However, award-winning documentary filmmaker and journalist Jodi Martinson is using the skills of her trade to tell the story of a young woman who entered the inner-circle of Konyโs Lordโs Resistance Army (LRA).
Kidnapped by the LRA at the age of 12, Evelyn Amon was forced to become one of Konyโs many wives, or rather, one of his sex slaves. Evelyn endured over 11 years of abuse and bore three of Konyโs daughters. Yet against all odds she managed to escape with two of her children.
Produced by the National Film Board of Canada, Martinsonโs recently released animated short, Stronghearted, depicts a poignant scene from Evelynโs childhood: her first encounter with Kony.
Weaving together wood-cut style animation by Kunal Sen and actual footage of Evelyn, the film poignantly portrays Evelynโs story, while still leaving much to the interpretation of the audience.
Keeping within the journalistic tradition, Stronghearted tells a powerful story, which Martinson believes to be more long lasting than the typical activist approach.
โAt the end of the day you donโt come away with easy solutions and quick fixes. If it were easy, we would have solved these problems,โ she said. โBut itโs not easy and so continue to look for stories that can help shine a light on what we can actually legitimately do to help atrocities from happening in the future.โ
Citing influences such as Waltz with Bashir, Martinsonโs animated documentary-style focuses on the notion of memory. Instead of trying to portray an objective view of events, Martinson seeks to depict Evelynโs personal opinion of what happened in a pivotal moment of her life.
Like many graphic novels, the almost-abstract animation and dark colour scheme creates a sort of blank slate, allowing viewers to project themselves onto the character of Evelyn, helping them to become more fully immersed in the story.
Juxtaposing the animated sequences with shots of the โrealโ Evelyn helped to ground the film.
โEvelyn is still a living, breathing person very much still in the middle of her struggle,โ explained Martinson.
โSo it also felt like it was important that we saw her in the present day so we couldnโt just dismiss this as a fiction. This is a real story that really happened.โ
Martinson became privy to Evelynโs story while pursuing her Masters of journalism at University of British Columbia. Within her first week, she was approached by professor Erin Baines, who had been doing work in the conflict regions of Uganda at a rehabilitation centre for child soldiers. Also at the centre were women, like Evelyn, who had been wives to top ranking commanders in the LRA.
โErin thought, in a way, this is so typical of NGOโs and researchers, we have totally ignored the pivotal role that some women played in this conflict,โ said Martinson.
โI met Erin and she said, โDo you think youโd want to make a documentary about that?โ And I said, โYeah!โโ
Eventually creating a feature-length documentary about both Evelynโs childhood and life following the LRA, Martinson thoroughly enjoyed working with her young and passionate, four-person team on Stronghearted.
โThis is a story weโre committed to because itโs a story we really, really want to tell. And that was so refreshing,โ she said.
Evelyn currently lives in Uganda with her two daughters fathered by Kony, an adopted daughter, as well as a daughter fathered by another man.
Questions about Evelynโs safety and security are still an issue as Uganda is still entrenched in conflict. Despite these concerns, Evelyn is adamant about sharing the true nature of her experiences.
โEvelyn has never really been surprised by my or anyoneโs efforts to tell her story. I mean, sheโs such a strong person who has such a strong sense of her place in history,โ said Martinson.
โIโm sure she disagrees with me on some of the choices I made and agrees on others and Iโm pretty okay with that. I think part of good story telling also reveals the shades of grey in the character,โ she finished.
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