A Modern Holocaust (With Popcorn)

Filmmakers’ cameras haven’t been aimed anywhere near the most brutalized of Darfur’s regions, and for good reason: Arab militia dispatched by the Sudanese Government are systematically starving, raping, castrating, and then offing African and Christian locals on the sly, and the men in power would rather you not see images of it happening. As U.S. citizens try shrugging off Iraq’s swelling body count, a faraway ethnic cleansing of Rwanda-esque proportions rages on largely ignored.

That is until renegade documentarian and former U.S. Marine Captain Brian Steidle gained unprecedented passage into Sudan as a “military observer.” While there he was taken hostage, snapped 1,000 photos, and collected as many personal stories as possible. When he made it back to America he compiled and exposed his smuggled film footage, an act of rebellion that inspired a New York Times exposé on the Darfur conflict, as well as producing his gripping and uncompromising documentary The Devil Came on Horseback which screens tonight at 8 p.m. at Cinema Paradiso (503 SE Sixth St., Fort Lauderdale). Tickets run $5 to $8. Call 954-525-3456, or visit www.fliff.com.
Thu., Sept. 20