Good news for all those of us hoping for the International Criminal Court (and in particular its main cause, namely putting an end to impunity for the perpetrators of the most serious crimes of concern to the international community) to receive exposure in the public: Skylight Pictures – a production company that “has been committed to producing artistic, challenging and socially relevant independent documentary films on issues of human rights and the quest for justice” for 25 years – is apparently about to release a documentary about the ICC and its work so far.
The following is an abstract of Skylight Pictures’ own description of the upcoming documentary, which currently is in its final stage of production and is expected to be up on the screen later this year:
We’ve been in production since September on The Court of Last Resort (working title), our film about the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. The ICC is the first permanent international judicial body capable of trying individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes when national courts are unable or unwilling to do so (for a good overview of the ICC go to the site of the Coalition for the ICC). The ICC currently has one person in custody, the Congolese militant Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, who is accused of recruiting child soldiers to his militia organization. Anyone who is wondering how grave a crime it is to turn children into soldiers should read “A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier” by Ismael Beah, a harrowing tale by a former child soldier from Sierra Leone, or pick up a copy of “Innocents Lost: When Child Soldiers Go To War” by Jimmie Briggs, an excellent account of the experiences of child soldiers around the world interviewed by the intrepid author.
So far we’ve filmed many interviews and activities at ICC headquarters in The Hague, and at the Assembly of States Parties (ASP – the governing body of the ICC) in November, setting the stage for the global purview of the ICC and the challenges it faces in its early years.
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