Currently, there are between 30,000 and 50,000 street children living AT “Agbogbloshi” in Accra who know of nothing beyond struggling to live each day—with the hope of making it to the next.
Domestic violence, abandonment, death of parents or the hope for a better life are reasons, why they come to “Agbogbloshi” and in order to survive, the children take on several duties, including; collecting and sorting rubbish, begging or carrying goods across the market .
Due to the hazardous living conditions in Agbogbloshi, it received the nickname “Sodom and Gomorrah”. It is the lives of these children who have no voice and future—who society seems to have forgotten about that a Germany based film company-York-Fabian Raabe Filmproduktion has decided to consider in their latest short film-‘Children of Sodom’…
Directed by York-Fabian Raabe, the film takes a special conceptual approach into the lives of these children to showcase what a normal day looks like for them. The documentary separates the cinematic experience from its informative nature.
Talking about the concept behind the short film, the film-makers said; “The idea for this concept came us when we were shooting in Agbogbloshi. It was a very intense experience for us both physically and emotionally. This devastating, hopeless and hazardous place had its own special atmosphere that we tried to capture with our cameras.
During the editing process we realised that we are loosing this atmosphere the more information we put into the film. Therefore we decided to reduce the info to a minimum and stick to the experience itself. Context is strictly given by montage and sound. No interviews, no comments, no music, no text, just the experience itself.
The informative part of the documentary is outsourced to an innovative website that guides you via screenshots through the movie giving all the background information. The content is based on different studies and info from NGOs, as well as our own research. It also gives opportunities to help, share and comment the situation via social media networks and other sorts of media.”
After having been screened at over 26 Film festivals across the world, ‘Children of Sodom’ is being taken to this year’s prestigious Cannes Film Festival—and it will be available at the short films corner.
Check out the film’s website: http://www.childrenofsodom.com