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War Don Don

– by Rebecca Richman Cohen

    1. Nonfiction

    2. Directors(s): Rebecca Richman Cohen

    1. Producer(s): Rebecca Richman Cohen, Francisco Bello, Abu-Bakarr Jalloh, Jim Butterworth, David Menschel, Daniel J. Chalfen

    2. Company Credit: Naked Edge Films, Racing Horse Productions

    3. Location: Sierre Leone

    1. Film Status: Complete

    2. URL: » http://wardondonfilm.com

About the Film:

In the heart of Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, United Nations soldiers guard a heavily fortified building known as the “special court.” Inside, Issa Sesay awaits his trial. Prosecutors say Sesay is a war criminal, guilty of heinous crimes against humanity. His defenders say he is a reluctant fighter who protected civilians and played a crucial role in bringing peace to Sierra Leone. With unprecedented access to prosecutors, defense attorneys, victims, and, from behind bars, Sesay himself — War Don Don puts international justice on trial for the world to see, finding that in some cases the past is not just painful, it is also opaque.

About the Filmmakers:

Rebecca Richman Cohen is a filmmaker with experience in international human rights and criminal defense. In law school, she worked as an investigator at the Bronx Defenders and continued to do investigative work at the Special Court for Sierra Leone, working on a legal defense team for Alex Tamba Brima in the AFRC-accused case. Between trips to West Africa, she has been adjunct faculty at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) where she taught an undergraduate seminar entitled “Human Rights, Mass Atrocity, and Documentary Film” and at American University’s Human Rights Institute. Rebecca graduated from Brown University and Harvard Law School and is also an alumna of the CPB/PBS Producers Academy and the IFP Independent Filmmaker Lab.