It looks like the kerfuffle around David Turner and Lara Zizic's Tiff documentary "Mission Congo" may not be dying down just yet. The film accuses Pat Robertson's Operation Blessing charity of using much of its funds to send dredges to a diamond mining site in what was then Zaire, instead of using those funds to send medical aid to the Rwandan border to help keep Rwandan refugees healthy. Aiding Rwandan refugees following the 1994 genocide was, of course, what Robertson said he needed money for when he pleaded for cash on his "700 Club" television show. As we reported earlier, the film is an indictment of televangelism in general, but it also makes specific accusations of how money was spent in what was then Zaire and is now Congo. Read More: Why Pat Robertson Is So Pissed about Tiff Documentary 'Mission Congo' Indiewire reached out to the "Mission Congo" filmmakers,...
- 9/12/2013
- by Bryce J. Renninger
- Indiewire
Exclusive: Mission Congo is about televangelist Pat Robertson during the Rwandan refugee crisis.
Documentary specialist sales company Cinephil, the outfit behind The Gatekeepers and The Act Of Killing, has taken sales rights to new feature doc Mission Congo. The film explores televangelist Pat Robertson’s use of charity resources for a controversial diamond mining mission.
Mission Congo also looks at Robertson’s alleged hypocrisy and exploitation of the Rwandan refugee crisis. Erin Heidenreich, Lara Zizic and David Turner produced the film, which was written and directed by Zizic and Turner.
Cinetic is handling Us rights.
Mission Congo has its world premiere in Toronto.
Another topical title on Cinephil’s slate is Alexander Gentelev’s Putin’s Games, coproduced by Mdr/Arte and Rts. The film looks at the controversy behind the choice of Sochi on “Russia’s Riviera” as the site for the 2014 Winter Olympics. Cinephil has already snared several buyers for the project (made through Saxonia...
Documentary specialist sales company Cinephil, the outfit behind The Gatekeepers and The Act Of Killing, has taken sales rights to new feature doc Mission Congo. The film explores televangelist Pat Robertson’s use of charity resources for a controversial diamond mining mission.
Mission Congo also looks at Robertson’s alleged hypocrisy and exploitation of the Rwandan refugee crisis. Erin Heidenreich, Lara Zizic and David Turner produced the film, which was written and directed by Zizic and Turner.
Cinetic is handling Us rights.
Mission Congo has its world premiere in Toronto.
Another topical title on Cinephil’s slate is Alexander Gentelev’s Putin’s Games, coproduced by Mdr/Arte and Rts. The film looks at the controversy behind the choice of Sochi on “Russia’s Riviera” as the site for the 2014 Winter Olympics. Cinephil has already snared several buyers for the project (made through Saxonia...
- 9/7/2013
- by geoffrey@macnab.demon.co.uk (Geoffrey Macnab)
- ScreenDaily
The televangelist claimed Operation Blessing was giving vital aid in response to the 1994 Rwandan crisis. A documentary opening at the Toronto film festival paints a less flattering picture
One of the stranger sights of the refugee crisis that followed the 1994 Rwandan genocide was of stretcher-bearers rushing the dying to medical tents, with men running alongside reciting Bible verses to the withering patients.
The bulk of the thousands of doctors and nurses struggling to save lives – as about 40,000 people died of cholera – were volunteers for the international medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (Msf). The Bible readers were hired by the American televangelist and former religious right presidential candidate, Pat Robertson, and his aid organisation, Operation Blessing International.
But on Robertson's Us television station, the Christian Broadcasting Network, that reality was reversed, as he raised millions of dollars from loyal followers by claiming Operation Blessing was at the forefront of the international...
One of the stranger sights of the refugee crisis that followed the 1994 Rwandan genocide was of stretcher-bearers rushing the dying to medical tents, with men running alongside reciting Bible verses to the withering patients.
The bulk of the thousands of doctors and nurses struggling to save lives – as about 40,000 people died of cholera – were volunteers for the international medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (Msf). The Bible readers were hired by the American televangelist and former religious right presidential candidate, Pat Robertson, and his aid organisation, Operation Blessing International.
But on Robertson's Us television station, the Christian Broadcasting Network, that reality was reversed, as he raised millions of dollars from loyal followers by claiming Operation Blessing was at the forefront of the international...
- 9/5/2013
- by Chris McGreal
- The Guardian - Film News
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