The activist group behind the Kony 2012 viral video says it will launch a sequel on today (Tuesday 4th April).
The California-based group Invisible Children promised that its new film would give more details and context than the first, which urged grassroots campaigners to pressure politicians and the military to hunt the notorious Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony.
The half-hour film broke records with more than 100-million views in less than a week, but provoked fierce debate and criticism over its slick style and simplification of the issues. It caused anger in north Uganda, where a public screening descended into scuffles and stone-throwing.
Jedidiah Jenkins, Invisible Children's director of ideology, told Reuters a Kony 2012 Part II video was expected to be released on Tuesday. It had been designed for an international audience with more details on Kony's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and more voices from the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the LRA was currently based, he said. Kony 2012 was accused of implying that the warlord was still menacing Uganda.
The sequel would also include an update about the "Cover the Night" awareness-raising events scheduled for April 20, according to a blogpost by Invisible Children.
Jenkins was speaking at a meeting of Hollywood insiders in Los Angeles in honour of Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, which is seeking Kony's arrest on war crimes charges. He is accused of recruiting child soldiers.
Around 40 film directors, producers and actors -- including the Law and Order actor Sam Waterston, Star Trek's Zachary Quinto and The Usual Suspects director, Bryan Singer -- gathered in the home of Independence Day director Roland Emmerich on Saturday evening for the dinner party, according to the Reuters news agency.
Moreno-Ocampo introduced attendees to Jenkins and encouraged them to support online video activism. "I love Invisible Children. I love them," Moreno-Ocampo told Reuters after hugging Jenkins at the dinner. "Their video is making a huge change in stopping Joseph Kony, I believe."
In an interview earlier in the day, the prosecutor said: "The Invisible Children movie is adding social interest that institutions need to achieve results. Invisible Children will, I think, produce the arrest of Joseph Kony this year."
Moreno-Ocampo has mentored Jenkins and other members of Invisible Children informally over the years.
Kony 2012's director Jason Russell is recovering from a mental breakdown after he was filmed running through the streets of San Diego naked and ranting about the devil. His family have said he was suffering from "reactive psychosis" due to stress, exhaustion and dehydration following his overnight fame.
On Saturday, Jenkins said: "He is on the road to recovery. It's going to be months, the doctors say, but he is recovering."
Invisible Children's supporters are expected to volunteer for five hours in their communities on April 20 to counter criticism the group has received over what Jenkins dubbed "slacktivism" or "clicktivism".
- © Guardian News and Media 2012
