Filmmaker bring story of Sudan's plight to St. James

On the heels of winning a second best documentary award in as many film festivals, filmmaker Bruce Janu, will address the topic that drives his film's success: how ordinary people can take up the plight of Sudan.

Janu, who works by day as a Hersey High School social studies teacher, is one of three scheduled speakers to appear Tuesday night as part of a "Darfur Awareness" presentation, sponsored by the Peace and Justice Committee at St. James Catholic Church.

The presentation takes place at 7 p.m. in the Laramie Room on the church campus, 831 N. Arlington Heights Road, Arlington Heights. Admission is free.

Speaking along with Janu will be Adrienne Curry, program director of Catholic Relief Services and justice education, as well as Stacy Thompson, from the Archdiocese of Chicago's office for peace and justice.

Committee members have invited church congregations from across the community to the attend presentation.

"What I think I am most excited about is the action component," said Sara Novak of Arlington Heights. "We will be learning about concrete actions we can take as individuals or groups, that would affect change in that area.

"So often," she adds, "we think of the problem, as 'over there.' "

Clearly, that is what drove Janu to spend the last two years making his film, to raise awareness about what is going on in the African country, and move individuals to get involved.

At last weekend's Illinois International Film Festival, held in St. Charles, Janu's film, called "Facing Sudan," won Best Documentary, after picking up the award for Best Documentary Feature at the Landlocked Film Festival in Iowa City last month.

Next month, he travels to Rome, Georgia, where already the film is a contender for Best International Documentary, at its Rome International Film Festival.

While Janu will not show the entire 90-minute documentary at the presentation, he does plan to show clips from the video, and talk about the people he met during its filming.

He opens it by showing Rolling Meadows resident, Brian Burns, going about his custodial duties at Hersey High School. A closer look reveals that Burns is a graduate student, who has visited Sudan twice.

Just seeing pictures of its people, particularly the children, changed his life, Burns says. He now is working to pay off his student loans, before obtaining a job working for a relief organization that will bring aid to the country and its people.