SUDAN’S SECRET SIDE

Documentarian Karin Muller records scenes of daily life in Sudanese villages before the war, a traditional life lived as though time stopped 500 years ago. Then drought causes nomadic herders to burn villages in order to seize the lands of sedentary farmers, driving survivors to refugee camps. Intimate video portraits of refugees in various roles and stations in life—housewives, a teacher, soldiers, a sultan, and others—show Sudan’s refugees not as objects of pity, but as diverse individuals possessing their full measure of humanity and striving for a better future. Online teaching aids equip students to respond by making their own documentaries on the topic.