Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine are two filmmakers who call D.C. home. They’ve made a name for themselves as writers, producers, and directors of documentary films, often for National Geographic and television, but their latest project has raised their profile far beyond the recognition of their previous work. War/Dance, for which the pair take joint directorial credit, has earned the couple a mantle’s worth of awards this year, including the documentary directing prize at Sundance. The film is also being talked about as a serious Oscar contender.
The subject of War/Dance is a group of children in a refugee camp in war torn northern Uganda. Many of these children have already been roped into the conflict, as the kidnapping of children to serve as soldiers or victims of sexual abuse is an all too common story in the region. The children of the Patongo camp had managed, amid all this strife, to qualify for Uganda’s National Music Competition, and the film focuses on the stories of three of the young musicians as the camp prepares for their competition appearance. Having recently become parents themselves, the Fines elected to make the film as a long distance collaboration, with Sean traveling to Uganda and shooting the film while Andrea remained in D.C. to work on the structure and piecing together of the footage Sean was getting. Amid a busy week of premieres, the Fines answered a few questions for DCist.
Making this film obviously put Sean into a lot of dangerous areas. Were there any moments that stand out as particularly frightening during the filming?
There were many frightening moments. But probably the most difficult had to be one of the nights we were driving back to camp after filming, I had just contracted malaria and were surrounded by camouflaged soldiers with six rocket propelled grenades pointed point blank at our faces. It took a few minutes to confirm they were military and not the rebels. Every day we had to have our guard up. Rebels were always around us. But in the end of the day our danger was nothing compared to what the kids that live in Northern Uganda face everyday. We were lucky we get to go home but the kids can’t go home. They are trapped in the camp. Trapped in the war.
Photo courtesy THINKFilm Company, Inc.
