God Grew Tired of Us–written and directed by Christopher Quinn–premiered at the Pacific Design Center on January 8, 2007. Attending the premiere was Nicole Kidman, who narrates the film, as well as celebrity-producers Dermot Mulroney and Catherine Keener and Brad Pitt (accompanied by Angelina Jolie). Also in attendance, Panther Bior, John Bul Dau, and Daniel Abol Pach–the three “Lost Boys” of the Sudan whose exile from their native Sudan and immigration to the United States is chronicled in the film.
Trailer link:http://www.beliefnet.com/story/206/story_20639_1.html#
When their homeland is beset by civil war and genocide, John, Daniel and Panther along with 25,000 other young refugees–aged 3 to 13–make the trek to relative safety in Ethiopia, and then again later to Kenya. The young orphans bond and form surrogate families as they grow up in a U.N. refugee camp in Kakuma. The title of the film comes from a quote by John Bul Dau speaking about the horrors and loss affecting his people–“It was as if God grew tired of us…”
Spending their days in the refugee camp, with no options and little hope of a future, the lives of John, Daniel and Panther are changed when the three are selected to leave the camp and re-settle in the United States. John, along with a group of other young men from the camp, is relocated to Syracuse, NY. Panther and Daniel end up in Pittsburgh, PA. The film not only follows their journey from Africa to America, but their fierce determination to not only succeed and thrive in their new home, but to find and aid the family they left behind.
From traveling in a plane, to the amazement of the bounty of an American grocery store, the Lost Boys are confronted with a culture and lifestyle completely alien to everything they have known. They struggle both to adapt and assimilate, as well as to maintain and honor their own cultural heritage and identity. This film is not only a touching and moving account of the triumph of the human spirit over hardship and adversity, but a fitting reminder of the freedom and abundance we often take for granted in America.
Official Website:http://www.godgrewtiredofus.com
Stella Louise
LA Story .
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Join John Dau in supporting projects to help rebuild southern Sudan at http://www.directchange.org/sudan>