Cucalorus

I was really excited to go to Cucalorus this year, having been in years past and having participated as staff for Visions. It is very interesting to go to such an event with the eye of not only a filmmaker, but as someone who has helped set up and run a film festival.

I bought the biggest pass I could afford, and tried to see as many films as I could. I love that Cucalorus has so many different types of events to go to, from your run-of-the-mill doc and narrative feature screenings, to dance-a-lorus, to the vj events and midnight brunch. It's pretty incredible, and very exciting to participate in.

By far, the most influential screening I went to was Daylight Come. It is a documentary about women in the Congo who are survivors of violence and rape. Many of them lost their husbands or were shunned by their society because after being raped they were considered "unclean." The project got started because two girls from Wilmington, Robin and Wendy, travelled to the Congo to help these women get back on their feet. They brought a camera with them the first trip, and returned later with Director Evan Vetter and his crew. Probably the most impressive aspect of the film is that it isn't the typical, white-person-saves-poor-african story. It focuses on the women and their own decisions to move on and find hope. Vetter doesn't hide any of the struggles that Robin and Wendy had while trying to help the women help themselves. There were several attempts that failed because of the gap in two vastly different cultures and mindsets. Rather than downplaying these details, the film highlights them and shows how Robin and Wendy had to struggle and work to find ways to continue their ministry in a seemingly hopeless situation. The women were able to support themselves after Robin and Wendy returned to the United States.

What struck me is that so many times the films about bad situations in Africa leave you with the feeling that there will always be awful things happening there, and that there is no hope for the victims of such suffering. Daylight Come was very different from this. The film aligns itself with the Congolese proverb, "No matter how long the night, the daylight will always come."