TIFF turns nightmare into a dream for former child soldiers
CBC News | Posted: September 7, 2014 9:11 PM | Last Updated: September 8, 2014
'The movie is our story,' says The Good Lie actor and former Sudanese refugee
Art does more than imitate life for Emmanuel Jal and Ger Duany. For the actors—and former child soldiers—art stirs up dark nightmares, and turns them into light that everyone can see.
The creation in question is Philippe Falardeau's The Good Lie. The based-in-real-life film made its world premiere Sunday at the Toronto International Film Festival, telling the story of four Sudanese refugees who find new life in the United States.
- VIDEO | Emmanuel Jal and Ger Duany on The Good Lie
- RAW VIDEO | Reese Witherspoon on fact-checking The Good Lie
- Big stars take on real-life characters at TIFF 2014
Reese Witherspoon stars as the brash American woman who helps them build a fresh start.
For Jal, who witnessed his mother's death at hands of government forces, and could fire a gun before he was 10, Sunday's gala premiere was a like dream come true.
"The movie is our story, he told CBC News. "He [Duany] saw his home burn down. He became a child soldier in the process, I became a child soldier too.
"But the movie is no longer our story now. It's the story of a lot of people who got involved."
Witherspoon shines a light
Jal credits Witherspoon for bringing much-needed attention to the stories from his country's dark past, but the 38-year-old Hollywood actress credits him for teaching her so much:
"Emmanuel was just amazing," she explained, on the film's red carpet. "He educated us, honestly. And we really changed a lot of the script because of the things that he said."
Learn more about Jal and Duany's experiences in the video above, and watch raw video from The Good Lie's red carpet premiere in Toronto.
Eli Glasner has the full story on Sunday's The National.
The Toronto International Film Festival runs through Sept. 14.