Awareness Film Festival - Road to Hope
No Parents. No Future. No Hope. Stranded in Sub-Saharan Africa, orphaned by an AIDS epidemic, thousands of children are left on their own, in need of a shepherd to save them.
Interview with Director/Producer Mike Wargo
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
Road to Hope was born out of a visit to the remote village of Kakumiro, Uganda by Rose Kiwanuka, Country Director of the Palliative Care Association of Uganda, and Roberta Spencer, a hospice volunteer from the United States. There, inside a small hut with no running water or electricity, they discovered 5-year old George Bazaire, the lone caregiver for his dying father. Even after they returned to their work, the image of George and his difficult situation was burned into their minds. When they returned to the village months later, they went to the hut to check in on George and his father. The door and window were boarded shut. George was nowhere to be found. When they inquired around the village, they learned that his father had died and George had gone to a nearby village to live with relatives. They went searching and when they found George they discovered that though he was now six years old he was still not in school. Sick, hungry and with rags for clothing, there was no one to pay school fees for him. They helped him out as best they could. When I heard their story, and the stories of other children like George, I was hooked. I quickly decided we needed to make a film that would explore the realities of life in developing countries where hope for a better life for orphaned children is often nothing more than an elusive dream.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
We are so blessed here in the U.S. We have all the medical attention we need and are surrounded by so many social service agencies that can step in to address all our various needs. We take so much for granted. I hope people will come away from watching Road to Hope with a better understanding of life and death in developing countries and a new-found appreciation for just how well we have it in Western Society.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
People everywhere want their children to grow up to become successful, regardless of where they live or their status in life. Road to Hope explores those issues from the perspective of orphans who were forced to grow up way too soon. Some, like the Street Kids of Kampala, will likely never be able to come out of poverty to realize the life their parents dreamed for them. Others, like Shadrack Kiprono, goes from having absolutely nothing, following the death of his mother in a remote village in Kenya, to earning a degree in international business at a highly respected U.S. university.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development and production?
The finished film is very different than I initially imagined. We knew we’d be filming in Uganda, Kenya and South Sudan, but never expected that our story would take us to various parts of the U.S. and back to Africa two more times. I also did not initially think we would be able to achieve the level of depth we have with our individual characters. Given the fact we wound up filming over the course of nearly two years, we were able to follow our characters in such a way that we were able to tell their stories much more fully than we could have were we to have gone to Africa to film for 3-1/2 weeks, only to return to the U.S. to spend a few weeks in post-production and and then getting the doc out into the world.
Having Torrey DeVitto lend her voice to the film helps us to not only seamlessly transition from one story to another, it also enables us to provide information intended to educate the audience while at the same time entertaining them and ultimately giving them something to think about when they walk out of the theatre. When I first met Torrey, she was acting in a couple of different shows: Pretty Little Liars and Army Wives. She took a couple of weeks off to accompany us on our initial film shoot back in the summer of 2013. She understands the issues we explore in Road to Hope because she’s seen and experienced them first-hand. She’s now starring in NBC’s new hit primetime series, Chicago Med. I’m really happy to have her involved in the film for many reasons. Beyond simply lending her talent, she’s totally committed to helping our Foundation address the issues we’ve discovered along the way. She hosted a fundraiser for the fund for the children in 2014 and is planning others to be held in Chicago and Los Angeles in 2016.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
The feedback has been amazing. Every time I’ve done a post-screening Q&A session, I’ve been blown away by the ability of audience members to formulate thoughtful questions that made it clear to me that they understood the message we were attempting to send.
Beyond that, we’ve been fortunate to have received a number of accolades from a few of the 35 or so film festivals in which Road to Hope has been an official selection since our world premiere in February. These include wins for best documentary feature at the Hollywood Florida Film Festival, Geneva Film Festival, LOVE International Film Festival, Moscow Film Festival, Amsterdam Film Festival and Marina Del Rey Film Festival. In addition, we’ve won awards in the Accolade Global Film Competition, Hollywood International Independent Documentary Awards and The IndieFEST Film Awards.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
It’s actually all been very humbling.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
Any additional visibility we can get for the film is always most appreciated. At some point in time, we hope to have commercial distribution for the film. Every penny we are able to make from the film goes into a fund that’s been established to support orphaned Ugandan children who were the primary caregivers for their dying parents. This support includes providing them with access to quality educational opportunities, including boarding school for many of the children. Funds are provided for school fees, books, room, board and professional counseling support.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
I would have to say all of the above. The more visibility and resulting viewership we can get, the more people will understand the needs of these children and that will help us to generate revenue to support our efforts. We currently have 44 children fully sponsored in our program, but have so many more who are in need.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
We want people to understand the impact that death and dying has on children in developing countries. The fact that young children are faced with the stark reality that they must grow up quickly to become the primary caregivers for their dying parents is something everyone needs to understand. We hope that understanding will, in turn, prompt them to take some sort of action to support organizations that are trying to address the psychosocial and emotional needs of these children.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
Hey! Did you see the movie about the little 5-year old Ugandan boy who single-handedly cared for his dying father all the way until the moment he died?
What are the key creatives developing or working on now?
We followed dozens of stories as we were making this film. For the sake of simplicity and creating a good storyline, we had to leave so many of them on the cutting room floor. I’m planning to develop a web series featuring short stories about some of these other children. The working title is “More Stories from the Road to Hope.”
Interview: October 2016
_______________________________________________________________________________
We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series and music video. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
_______________________________________________________________________________
Road to Hope
No Parents. No Future. No Hope. Stranded in Sub-Saharan Africa, orphaned by an AIDS epidemic, thousands of children are left on their own, in need of a shepherd to save them.
Length:
71 minutes
Director:
Mike Wargo
Producer:
Mike Wargo
Writer:
Cyndy Searfoss and Mike Wargo
About the writer, director and producer:
Mike Wargo (Link to Bio):
http://www.roadtohopefilm.com/crew/#cbp=http://www.roadtohopefilm.com/team/cyndy-searfoss/
Cyndy Searfoss (Link to Bio):
http://www.roadtohopefilm.com/crew/#cbp=http://www.roadtohopefilm.com/team/cyndy-searfoss/
Key cast:
Torrey DeVitto (Link to Bio):
http://www.roadtohopefilm.com/crew/#cbp=http://www.roadtohopefilm.com/team/cyndy-searfoss/
Looking for (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists):
Yes.
Funders:
Hospice Foundation
Made in association with:
Hospice Foundation and Wolfer Productions
Release date:
February 11, 2016