Feature: Movie "Ana's Playground" allegory for children living inviolence, warzones
by Liza Jansen
UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 17 (Xinhua) -- While innocently playing asoccer game in a war-torn, ravaged neighborhood, bullet shotsunexpectedly push 11-year Ana into a hazardous cat and mouse gamewith a sniper. The game culminates in a clash between ideology andhumanity.
Following the International Day Against the Use of Childsoldiers,Ana's story -- the award winning short film "Ana's Playground," wasscreened here on Wednesday night.
The suspenseful, moving and inspiration film is a grippingallegory for children living with violence in general.
"The idea of loss of humanity and loosing the light in a child isprobably the most upsetting thing I can imagine," director EricHowell told Xinhua.
The only thing worse than seeing a child being brutalized orharmed is to see the child become the brutalizer, Howell, who beganfilm production at age 10, explained.
An estimated 120,000 children under 18 are currentlyparticipating in armed conflicts across Africa, of which some areonly seven or eight years old, according to the Coalition to Stopthe Use of Child Soldiers.
Child soldiers were involved in 33 ongoing or recent armedconflicts in the world, the Coalition reports.
Howell got inspired to write the Minnesota-made short film byreading a novel about the Siege of Sarajevo, which took place from1992-1996 and during which more than 10,000 people reportedlyperished, of which around 10 percent were children.
The award winning director, who made history by creating thefirst motion picture to be shot on film and later debuted on theinternet, wanted to tell a story without dialogue, which aims toshift the empathy for the audience from protagonist to antagonist ina single moment.
Because children "can emote without saying a lot...I chose themas the vehicle to tell the story," Howell said.
"Ana's Playground" is rather metaphore focusing on the effects ofviolence on children without political or regional stereotyping thana document of children in war, Howell said.
The film has received countless awards both internationally andwithin the Unites States and was recently awarded the Grand PrizeAward from Fade In magazine for screenwriters.
The movie was short of being listed to receive an Academy Awardnomination, narrowed down into a small group of 10 films from theinitial choice of 76.
Earlier this week, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in areport that the recruitment and use of children by armed forces andother armed groups in Chad persists, and that reduced tensions lastyear enabled many children to leave such groups.
Children continue to be targets of sexual and gender-basedviolence in Chad, and "mines and other explosive remnants of warcontinue to expose children to danger in Chad," according to thereport which covers the period from July 2008 to December 2010.
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