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A Brilliant Genocide

"A Brilliant Genocide" is an expose of the brutal campaigns by the Yoweri Museveni regime to wipe out a significant part of Uganda's Acholi people under the guise of crushing a rebellion by The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). It lays bare the atrocities committed by Museveni's army against the Acholi people of Northern Uganda since 1986 when he seized power.

The documentary is a counterpoint to #Kony2012 which brought worldwide awareness to the crimes committed by the LRA under rebel leader Joseph Kony when the video became the most watched viral video of all time, with over 100 million views. "A Brilliant Genocide" contests popular narratives that pin Kony as the world worst criminal and the one responsible for the 20 year long war.

Rather than following the simple and well established government narrative, "A Brilliant Genocide" shows how the Museveni regime has used Kony as a straw man, enabling the Ugandan government to garner international sympathy and resources in the supposed "war on terrorism" while in fact diverting attention from its own crimes against humanity in northern Uganda.

The 75 minute feature documentary includes interviews with Museveni's former close associates who during the war conducted some of the most bloodiest campaigns against the people in Northern Uganda. Many other prominent Ugandan thinkers, opposition figures, activists, exiles and émigrés are also featured to offer a uniquely Ugandan perspective.

"A Brilliant Genocide" is the untold story of how an African dictator has been able to commit mass murder and still get a regular audience at The White House and 10 Downing Street. It comes at a critical time in Uganda's history when Gen. Museveni, in power for 30 years, has just been re-elected in another sham election, while his main opposition, and key character in the film, was arrested and put in jail.

  • Ebony Butler
    Director
  • Jason Byrne
    Producer
  • Ebony Butler
    Producer
  • Marcus Dineen
    Cinematographer
  • Ellery Ryan
    Cinematographer
  • Jono Van Hest
    Cinematographer
  • Mustaque Abdallah
    Cinematographer
  • Steven Robinson
    Editors
  • Ken Sallows
    Editors
    Chopper
  • Ebony Butler
    Editors
  • James Brown
    Composer
  • Dr. Olara Otunnu
    Key Cast
  • Milton Allimadi
    Key Cast
  • General David Sejusa
    Key Cast
  • Hon. Norbert Mao
    Key Cast
  • General Pecas Kutesa
    Key Cast
  • Adam Branch
    Key Cast
  • Ole Sturm
    Animators
  • Tim Smith
    Animators
  • Paul Shannahan
    Sound Design
  • Shane Burrell
    Colour Specialist / Grader
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Feature
  • Genres:
    history, politics, human rights, international justice, geopolitics, war on terror, war, conflict, displacement, minority groups, ethnicity, peace and justice
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 15 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    February 1, 2016
  • Production Budget:
    150,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Australia
  • Country of Filming:
    Australia, New Zealand, Uganda, United Kingdom, United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital; Red; Black Magic
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • DC Independent Film Festival
    Washington DC
    February 11, 2016
    World
  • Los Angeles Women's International Film Festival
    Los Angeles
    United States
    March 27, 2016
    L.A
    Best Feature Documentary
  • The Palm Beach International Film Festival
    Palm Beach, Florida
    United States
    April 14, 2016
    Florida Premiere
  • Hollywood Independent Documentary Awards
    Hollywood
    United States
    March 12, 2016
    Best Feature Documentary
  • The Julien Dubuque International Film Festival
    Julien Dubuque, Iowa
    United States
    April 22, 2016
    Iowa Premiere
Director Biography - Ebony Butler

Ebony Butler is a Melbourne based filmmaker and human rights activist. She has a passion for creating films that educate and that have the potential to inspire social and political change. She is also the founder and director of not-for-profit organization ‘Bikes 4 Life’ which provides vital transport to impoverished and war-ravaged regions in Uganda, Tanzania, Cambodia and other neglected communities around the world.

Ebony has been in the industry for over ten years graduating from Sound Audio Engineering Institute (SAE) in 2007. After film school she established Atlantic Star Productions, a small production company that produced corporate media and short form content. Outside of the corporate video world Ebony maintained involvement with creative productions such as short films, music videos, short documentaries and experimental videography and editing projects.

She has a passion for the arts and enjoys acting and directing but her professional career has been dominated with roles as a camerawoman, producer, editor, or sometimes all three. She has produced; directed and edited at least 15 short films and has plans to test her ability with feature narrative films in the coming years.

In 2008 Ebony was offered a job as a camera operator and video editor in Cambodia with the Australian not-for-profit organisation Be A Hero. It was at that time when her life began to change. The things she witnessed in Cambodia had a serious effect on her and after returning to Australia she immediately got involved with human rights, volunteering and she became quite active with a group working in Africa, who enlightened her about a little known war in Uganda and a warlord named Kony.

In 2016, after seven years of travelling back and forth to Uganda and around the world, filming and researching the war, Ebony completed her debut feature length documentary titled A Brilliant Genocide. The award-winning documentary exposes untold truths of the war in Northern Uganda.

In the foreseeable future Ebony is committed to making media that can make a difference, producing films with strong messages, non-fiction that educates, inspires and can impact social and political change.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

This film has taken me six years to produce.

And I sacrificed a lot to make it. The reason is simple, this is a story that needs to be told - an important and time critical piece that no one else in the entire world is telling.

My primary aim is to give a silenced minority, who have been the victims of the most horrific crimes against humanity, a voice and some sense of justice for what they have endured at the hands of their own government.

Secondly, I want to inspire people to take action and demand that the U.K and the U.S cut all military support to Uganda's murderous dictator of 30 years.

Please stand with me, an demand justice for the Acholi people of Northern Uganda.

#EndTheSilence
#ABrilliantGenocide