About the film
THE FILM:
Zachariah Char, a Sudanese “Lost Boy” featured in the New York Times, returns to South Sudan and his home village of Duk Padiet to search for his mother and father – 24 years after fleeing the country during a civil war.
THE CREATIVE TEAM:
Heading this project are Academy Award-winning cinematographer Tom Hurwitz, Grammy-Award winning songwriter Marcus Hummon and Academy Award-nominated Editor Ann Collins.
STORY OF THE LOST BOYS:
Rev. Zachariah Char left his home village in Sudan in 1987 after the Islamic government declared that all males in Christian South Sudan would be killed. Approximately 27,000 boys and young men fled the Sudan and settled in refugee camps in Ethiopia, where they remained for four years. In 1991, deteriorating conditions forced many to travel to Kenya, where they were relocated to Kakuma, a U.N. refugee camp. Tragically, only 12,000 boys and young men survived this extraordinarily arduous journey. In 2001, the U.S. and other nations granted visas to those in the Kakuma camp. In the West they became known as the “Lost Boys.” Nearly 4,000 settled in the U.S., including Zachariah.
Creative Team
Sam Waterston
Sam Waterston is a highly esteemed actor, producer and director. He was nominated for an Academy Award for The Killing Fields and applauded for his work on Law & Order and The Newsroom. Waterston has been a long-time member of the Board of Directors of Refugees International, an organization that helps refugees gain entry to the United States and escape persecution. He also received the Goodermote Humanitarian Award.
Liesel Litzenburger Meijer
Liesel Litzenburger Meijer is the author of the novels Now You Love Me, from Three Rivers Press/Random House in 2007, and The Widower, from Shaye Areheart Books/Random House in 2006. Her writing has appeared in numerous magazines, newspapers and anthologies, and she has taught writing at several colleges and universities including New College and the University of Michigan. Visit Liesel at www.lieselonline.com
Mark Barger Elliott
Mark is a pastor, screenwriter and filmmaker. He is the founder of Blue Lobsters Media, author of Middle of the Maze: 5 Secrets to Finding Your Way, and has been a contributor to The Huffington Post and CNN.com. Mark serves as Senior Pastor to the Mayflower Congregational Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He is a graduate of Cornell University and Princeton Theological Seminary. Visit Mark at www.markbargerelliott.com.
Tom Hurwitz
Tom is one of our most honored documentary cinematographers and has won two Emmy Awards and a Sundance Film Festival Award for Best Cinematography. His films have won four Academy awards and several more nominations. His television programs have won Emmy, Directors Guild and film festival awards for Best Documentary. His latest film, The Queen of Versailles, won an award at the 2012 Sundance film festival.
Ann Collins
Ann Collins has been working in documentary film for more than twenty-five years. Her editing credits include the feature documentaries The Heart of the Matter, Belly Talkers, The Charcoal People, and Sound and Fury, all of which premiered at the Sundance film Festival before receiving theatrical and television distribution. The Heart of the Matter received an award at Sundance. Sound and Fury was nominated for an Academy Award.
Marcus Hummon
Marcus has enjoyed a successful career as a songwriter, recording artist, producer, and composer. Six of his songs have charted #1 on Billboard, Radio and Records, or Cashbox and several have been nominated for Grammys with Bless the Broken Road winning a Grammy. Hummon has also written five musicals and two operas. His musical, Atlanta enjoyed a three-month-long run at The Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles.
News
Lost Boy Home now available on Amazon
Palm Beach International Film Festival – World Premiere
Lost Boy Home was honored to have its World Premiere occur at the PBIFF. In an article in the Palm Beach Post Randi Emerman, Festival Director, singled out Lost Boy Home as one of three films for filmgoers to screen during the Festival and journalist Larry Richman gave Lost Boy Home **** (four stars).
Africa World Documentary Film Festival – Official Selection
Lost Boy Home was honored to have been an “Official Selection” of the AWDFF and has been screened at the IRepresent International Documentary Film Festival in Lagos Nigeria, St. Louis University and at the University of Kansas.
Best Shorts Competition – Award of Excellence
Lost Boy Home was honored to have received an “Award of Excellence: Short Documentary” from the Best Shorts Competition