By Albert George Sheriff
Two movie groups, the Ushers Film Company and the Platinum Entertainment Group, have produced a new Sierra Leonean film called “Refugees” to be premiered 6 January 2013 at the National Stadium.
The film, commemorating anniversary of the infamous rebel invasion of Freetown, depicts the eleven year civil war in the country. It was directed by Pastor Aiah Momoh, president of Sunvally, the Sierra Leone national film union.
He said the film ‘Refugees’ was the first Sierra Leone movie produced by Sierra Leoneans.
“After the war in Rwanda, there was ‘Hotel Rwanda’, in South Africa was ‘Sarafina’ and in Nigeria was ‘Tears of the Sun’”, he said, adding that ‘Refugees’ would serve as an audio visual document for Sierra Leoneans present and those yet unborn to know exactly what happened during the civil war (1991-2000).
Pastor Momoh said the main reason for the production of the film was to highlight the ills of war, so that Sierra Leoneans would not go back to war.
He said “during the past elections, some people were talking about going back to war, which means they have not learnt their lessons well”. He stated that the film which features some of the country’s brightest acts would go a long way to get people to know that they should never resort to war.
The casts include multi-talented Jimmy Bangura (Jimmy B) who is one of the protagonists in the movie, plus some 30 others faces among them Pamela Ruth Thomas, Desmond Thorpe, Shamel, Julius Senessie, Jane Cole, Saida Momoh, Fati Sheriff, Kadija Koroma, Bobby Harold Gray and many more.
