The Greatest Silence has screened across the world to wide acclaim and political attention, and it has won prizes at the Sundance Film Festival (2008 Special Jury Prize for Documentaries), the Amnesty International Film Festival (2007 Movies That Matter Distribution Award, where it screened as a work-in-progress), the Rome Independent Film Festival (2008 Best Documentary).

Jackson filmed and narrates her extraordinary film, which focuses on the catastrophe affecting the Democratic Republic of Congo’s most vulnerable. The opening sequences are comprised of the personal testimonies of Congolese women who are both victims of rape and of the ongoing stigma attached. Interviews with 34 year-old Marie Jeanne and 18 year-old, Immakilee are heartbreaking to hear, as is Jackson’s own experience of rape in Washington D.C by three men who were never found.

Jackson juxtaposes these intimate interviews with an overview of the politics and history of the country. She interviews the Minister of Women’s Affairs, Faida Mwamgilwa, representatives of Women’s Advocacy groups, the UN Peacekeeper Chief of Staff, Eastern DRC Division - Colonel Roddy Winser, Medical Director of Panzi Hospital - Dr. Denis Mukwege and Major Honorine Munyole of the National Police, amongst others. Jackson’s narration succinctly outlines the country’s history from Belgian colonisation in the 1880s for gold, silver, diamonds and oil through to independence in 1960, the assassination of its first prime minister and dictatorship until “in 1997, the new DCR began to sink into a bloody civil war and the raping began.” Jackson and her interviewees continue this trajectory into the present day, with women’s advocate Christine Schuyler Deschryver stating, “it started in 1999 — the bodies of the women became like the playground.”

Jackson asserts that the “Rwandan paramilitaries have been the most brutal”. She and her interviewees, contend that it is the Interahamwe (a Hutu paramilitary organization that was supported by the Hutu-led government before, during and after the Rwandan Genocide), together with other militias, who “maintain the chaos necessary to loot Congo’s resources. This is especially true of Coltan,” Jackson’s narration continues. “A mineral used in all cell phones and laptop computers. The DRC has 80 percent of the world’s reserves. It is estimated that a million dollars of Coltan is stolen out of the country every day.”

The result is an unflinching document of a shameful chain of events that stems from the ‘economies of the war,’ all the while affirming Jackson’s conviction that the victims of rape must be heard, and those responsible held accountable. This includes “the 19 UN Peacekeepers implicated in rape and sexual exploitation, exchanging milks and eggs for having sex with girls as young as ten”.

Jackson obtains comments from Congolese men that demonstrate frighteningly, the entrenched mentality that allows such atrocities to occur. Her narration and collected testimonials relate the overwhelming tragedy, pain and suffering experienced by so many of Congo’s women.

At the same time, the documentary exposes potential avenues for hope and change in Congo and what can be done by those internationally —The Greatest Silence is accompanied by a website that lists opportunities for Activism & Outreach that has resulted in policy changes to human rights initiative.

Lisa F. Jackson will attend the HRAFF Canberra screening (Fri 21 November @ The Finkel Theatre, 6:30pm) and the Melbourne screening (Saturday 22 November @ the Kino 3:00pm) of The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo. The special Sydney screening on Tuesday 25 November 6:15pm at Dendy Cinemas, King Street Newtown is FREE though seats are limited. Contact caritas@caritas.org.au to reserve your seats. For more information call (02) 8306 3444.

See www.hraff.org.au for national film screening schedules.

Human Rights Arts and Film Festival dates:
Melbourne: November 12 - 30
Canberra: November  20 – 22
Perth: November 28 – 29
Sydney: December 4 – 7
Brisbane: March 6 - 7 2009