KONY 2012

KONY 2012 is a film and campaign by Invisible Children that aims to make Joseph Kony famous, not to celebrate him, but to raise support for his arrest and set a precedent for international justice.

Pledge your support by donating here: http://bit.ly/konydonate and continue to share this story. GOAL: 500,000 shares

FOR MEDIA INQUIRES ONLY: Monica Vigo [e-mail]

DIRECTOR: Jason Russell LEAD EDITOR: Kathryn Lang EDITORS: Kevin Trout, Jay Salbert, Jesse Eslinger LEAD ANIMATOR: Chad Clendinen ANIMATOR: Jesse Eslinger 3-D MODELING: Victor Soto VISUAL EFFECTS: Chris Hop WRITERS: Jason Russell, Jedidiah Jenkins, Kathryn Lang, Danica Russell, Ben Keesey, Azy Groth PRODUCERS: Kimmy Vandivort, Heather Longerbeam, Chad Clendinen, Noelle Jouglet ORIGINAL SCORES: Joel P. West SOUND MIX: Stephen Grubbs, Mark Friedgen, Smart Post Sound COLOR: Damian Pelphrey, Company 3 CINEMATOGRAPHY: Jason Russell, Bobby Bailey, Laren Poole, Gavin Kelly, Chad Clendinen, Kevin Trout, Jay Salbert, Shannon Lynch PRODUCTION ASSISTANT: Jaime Landsverk LEAD DESIGNER: Tyler Fordham DESIGNERS: Chadwick Gantes, Stephen Witmer

MUSIC CREDIT:

Original Instrumental Scores by Joel P. West http://www.joelpwest.com/

“02 Ghosts I” Performed by Nine Inch Nails, Written by Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor, Produced by Alan Moulder, Atticus Ross, and Trent Reznor, Nine Inch Nails appear courtesy of The Null Corporation

“Punching in a Dream”, Performed by The Naked and Famous, Written by Aaron Short, Alisa Xayalith, and Thom Powers, Produced by Thom Powers, The Naked and Famous appear courtesy of Somewhat Damaged and Universal Republic

“Arrival of the Birds”, Performed by The Cinematic Orchestra, Written by The Cinematic Orchestra, Produced by The Cinematic Orchestra, The Cinematic Orchestra appears courtesy of Disney Records

“Roll Away Your Stone”, Performed by Mumford and Sons, Written by Benjamin Lovett, Edward Dwane, Marcus Mumford, and Winston Marshall, Produced by Markus Dravs, Mumford and Sons appear courtesy of Glassnote Entertainment Group LLC

“On (Instrumental)”, Performed by Bloc Party
Written by Bloc Party, Produced by Jacknife Lee, Bloc Party appears courtesy of Vice Records

“A Dream within a Dream”, Performed by The Glitch Mob, The Glitch Mob appears courtesy of Glass Air

“I Can’t Stop”, Performed by Flux Pavilion, Flux Pavilion appears courtesy of Circus Records Limited

Right now, there are more people on facebook than there were on the planet 200 years ago.

Humanity's greatest desire is to belong and connect.

And now, we see each other. We hear each other.

"Grandpa I love you!"

"I love you!"

"Why.. why won't it take a picture?"

We share what we love and it reminds us what we all have in common.

"Dug out alive and well after seven and a half days.."

"If you believe in yourself, you'll know how to ride a bike! Watch and learn!"

"So now technically, your device is on. Can you tell?"

"Oh! It's exciting!"

And this connection is changing the way the world works.

Governments are trying to keep up.

Now we can test the freedom.

And older generations are concerned.

"Many people are very concerned about tomorrow. They could get worse next year.

The game has new rules.

The next 27 minutes are an experiment.

But in order for it to work, you have to pay attention.

I can hear him!

Ever single person in the world started this way.

He didn't chose where or when he was born.

But because he's here, he matters.

Yeah! We've been waiting for you! You made it!

My name is Jason Russell and this is my son, Gavin.

He loves jumping on the trampoline, being a ninja, and dancing.

What are you doing?

Making a snow angel.

How do you do that?

You do this!

And just like his dad, he likes being in movies

Action!

Look out! Look out people! Run! It's a bomb!

And making movies.

Daddy watch this!

I think we got the video

But he was born into a pretty complicated world.

And as a dad, I want him to grow up in a better world than I did.

And because of the course of events in my life, I see a way to get there.

It has become my job.

Who are you to end a war?

I'm here to tell you who are you not to.

Hey Gavin, what's up?

Years before Gavin was born, the course of my life was changed entirely by another boy.

And who is this right here?

Jacob

Who's Jacob?

Jacob is our friend in Africa.

It's been almost ten years since Jacob and I became friends.

It's okay, they're nice. They're different from sharks.

But when my friends and I first met him in Uganda in Central Africa, it was in very different circumstances.

He was running for his life.

Uh, you go to school here

Yes

That's how you know English so well?

I know.

How many nights have you stayed here?

Hello

You are making our work very difficult

You stop that thing now

The night I first met Jacob, he told me what he and other children in Northern Uganda were living through.

We worry the rebels when they arrest us again then they will kill us

My brother tried to escape then they kill him using Panga

They cut his neck

Did you see it?

I saw

We fear that if we sleep at our home that we can be abducted by the rebels

Because our home is far away from town

They will catch us then they will take us there in the bush

We come here to save our life

I cannot believe that

You cannot believe it?

This has been going on for years?

If that happened one night in America, it would be on the cover of Newsweek.

What is it that you want to be when you grow up?

For me I wanted to be lawyer but I don't have money to pay my school fees

So that I learn and then become a lawyer

Hmm.

Yes

After spending a few weeks with Jacob, he told me something I would never forget.

So if is better when you kill us and if possible, you can kill us you kill us

For us we don't want now to stay

You don't want to stay on Earth?

We are only two, no one is taking care of us

We are not doing to school, so

You would rather die than stay on Earth?

Yes

Now, even now?

Even now.

How are we going to stay in our future?

He told me more about his brother and what he would say to him if he were still alive.

I love you but now I miss you

So it is better when we meet

Wa are not going to meet but we may meet in heaven

You see?

So it is better

I will not talk much

I will start something

Because if I saw my brother once again I don't

Hmm?

It's okay.

Jacob, it's okay

Everything in my heart told me to do something

And so I made him a promise

We are also going to do everything that we can to stop them

Do you hear my words?

Yes

Do you know what I mean?

Yes

Hmm?

Yes

We are. We're going to stop them.

We're going to stop them

I made that promise to Jacob not knowing what it would mean but now I do.

Over the past nine years, I have fought to fulfill it.

And the fight has led me here.

To this movie you're watching.

Because that promise is not just about Jacob or me

It's also about you

And this year, 2012, is the year that we can finally fulfill it

And if we succeed, we change the course of human history

But time is running out.

To level with you, this movie expires on December 31, 2012

And its only purpose is to stop the rebel group, the LRA

And their leader, Joseph Kony

And I'm about to tell you exactly how we're going to do it.

So the thing is that my son Gavin has never

I've never really explained to him what I do

He knows I work in Africa

But he doesn't know what the war's about

Or who Joseph Kony is

And I'm gonna explain it to him for the first time today

That's what we're going

So, Gav, are you ready?

Yeah

I'm gonna ask you some questions

Okay

And you can just look at me and answer the questions

I'm kinda nervous

What do I do for a job?

Ah! You stop the bad guys from being mean

Who are the bad guys?

Um

Do you know

Star Wars people

Star Wars people? Those are the bad guys?

Yeah

Can I tell you the bad guy's name?

Yeah

This is the guy, Joseph Kony

He's the bad guy?

Yeah

Who is this?

Jacob

Joseph Kony, he has an army, okay?

And what he does is he takes children from their parents

And he gives them a gun to shoot

And he makes them shoot and kill other people.

But they're not gonna do what he says because they're nice guys, right?

Yeah they don't want to do what he says

But he forces them to do bad things

What do you think about that?

It's sad

I couldn't explain to Gavin the details of what Joseph Kony really does

Because the truth is, Kony abducts kids just like Gavin.

For 26 years, Kony has been kidnapping children into his rebel group, the LRA

Turning the girls into sex slaves

And the boys into child soldiers

He makes them mutilate people's faces

And he forces them to kill their own parents

And this is not just a few children

It's been over 30,000 of them

And Jacob was one of those children

As if Kony's crimes aren't bad enough

He's not fighting for any cause, but only to maintain his power

He is not supported by anyone

And he has repeatedly used peace talks to rearm and murder again and again

Kony, different times, proposed peace and then just regain strength and attack

This is the head prosecutor for the International Criminal Court

In 2002 when the court was started, their job was

To find and demand the arrest of the world's worst criminals

Although there are a lot of war lords, murderers, and dictators in the world

The perversity of Kony's crimes made him first on the court's list

Kony's the first guy indicted by the ICC

The crimes are basically crimes against humanity

And war crimes committed against the civillian population

Including murder, sexual slavery, rapes, abductions

We need to plan how to arrest Kony

Start to plan

And it has to be serious

In fact, the only way to stop Kony is to show him

Hey, we're going to arrest you

What do you think we should do about it?

You should stop him

The criminal here is Kony.

Stop him and then solve all the problems

We should stop who?

Him.

It's obvious that Kony should be stopped

The problem is 99% of the planet doesn't know who he is

If they knew, Kony would have been stopped long ago

Let the world, let the international community

Take justice to him there

Follow him wherever he is

First to rescue our children

And secondly, to deliver the justice

We are determined to cooperate with any friend of Uganda

To ensure that this mindless killing and slaughter is ended

When my friends and I came home from Uganda

We thought that if the government knew, they would do something to stop him

But everyone in Washington we talked to said

There is no way the United States will ever get involved

In a conflict where our national security or financial interests aren't at stake

No administration, republican, democrat, Obama, Bush, Clinton, doesn't matter

Would do enough because it's simply not an important enough issue

On the radar screen of American Foreign Policy

Since the government said it was impossible

We didn't know what else to do

But tell everyone we could about Jacob and the Invisible Children

We're going to show this movie to as many people as possible

In such a way that we can't be ignored

And when we did, people were shocked

And their awareness turned into action

We started something

A community

I have friends that have been living in this conflict their entire life

Fight for that, because that is what is going to change this world

And that is what defines us

We got creative and we got loud

It's not over! It's not over! It's not over!

And as the LRA began to move into other countries

Jacob and other Ugandans came to the US

To speak on behalf of all people suffering because of Kony

Even though Uganda was relatively safe

They felt compelled to tell the world that Kony was still out there

And had to be stopped

I'm here so proud advocating for the people who are back at home

And this change we are going to make is going to last forever

We built a community around the idea that where you live

Shouldn't determine whether you live

We were committed to stop Kony and rebuild what he had destroyed

And because we couldn't wait for and institutions or governments to step in

We did it ourselves

With our time, talent, and money

So we rebuilt schools

The best you can offer a child is by letting them be independent

And that was providing education

We created jobs

I have seen the lives of those who have been hopeless

Now they have hope

And we built and early warning radio network on the front line of the war

To protect villages from rebel attacks

So you update real-time what's happening in a war zone 8,000 miles away

All of this was funded by an army of young people

Who put their money toward their belief in the value of all human life

They gave a few dollars a month of what little they had

To a program called Tri

And proved that a bunch of littles could make a big difference

And as a result the unseen became visible

We've seen these kids

We've heard their cries

This war must end

We will not stop

We will not fear

We will fight war

Deliver your voice

I've talked to people from Mexico, from Canada

From every other state that I can think of

We're all doing this for the exact same reason

And we're all coming from completely different places

This is what the world should be like

So with hundreds of thousands of people with us

We went back to Washington DC and we met with Congressmen and Senators

One by one

On both sides, republicans, democrats, and they all agreed with us

Joseph Kony's crimes had to be stopped

Of all the problems that are out there, none is more severe than one that

Mutilates the lives of little kids

These young members of the Invisible Children organization

Know that no child should live in fear of being abducted or killed

So they were determined to become their voice

They realized that these African children and families

Were invisible to Washington policy makers

So they decided to make them visible

And what I was told would never happen

Suddenly became possible

In furtherance of the Congress' stated policy, I have authorized

A small number of US forces to deploy to Central Africa

To provide assistance to regional forces that are working toward

The removal of Joseph Kony from the battlefield

Sincerely, Barack Obama

The surprise announcement came in a letter from the White House

The US president's decision commits US troops to help

Through advice and assistance

Not putting Americans into combat, to help the countries of the region

End this threat once and for all

And that was a worthwhile investment

We used to think that we could not do it

And now when I see we can do it I am overwhelmed

After 8 years of work, the government finally heard us

And in October of 2011, 100 American advisors were sent into Central Africa

To assist the Ugandan army in arresting Kony and stopping the LRA

It was the first time in history that the United States took that kind of action

Because the people demanded it

Not for self defense, but because it was right