Imagine a world without children. In such a world, Aloyo, a twelve-year-old girl from Uganda, tells the story of the children’s return following the war. Since 1986, Northern Uganda has been a place of constant conflict by the rebellion forces of the Lord’s Resistance Army. Over 75,000 children have been abducted and forced to spend part of their childhood as soldiers in the bushes. Follow Aloyo as she plays a make-believe war game that hits too close to home, into open fields and forest where gunfire still echoes like ghosts, and through ruined and lively villages, as she reclaims stories about the children the war took away. Mixing the tradition of African oral storytelling told around the fire with virtual reality, Children Do Not Play War immerses the viewer in Uganda’s quest for redemption, hope, and healing.
Published October 2019 in partnership with GO Campaign and Children of Peace Uganda. VILD Studio