When Ishmael M. crossed the Sinai desert with his wife and four children and paid a smuggler to get them into Israel, he hardly expected to be addressing an audience of film-goers at The Jerusalem Film Festival 8 days later.
When our film The Devil Came On Horseback was invited to the 24th Jerusalem Film Festival back in April I didn't imagine that I would leave the screening for some fresh air and meet a Darfurian refugee across the street from the theatre who spoke perfect English.
In Jerusalem, the most important crucible of multi-cultural faith, a documentary and the genocide and political crisis it depicts met face to face. A refugee saw a film about his people and addressed its audience.
Ishmael's life in Egypt had become so dangerous that it was unbearable. His wife and children had not left their one room hovel for over a year, afraid to risk the streets of Cairo incase they were arrested and deported back to Sudan where they would face certain death. He cobbled together an assortment of foreign currency from friends and relatives and started the journey to Israel - his promised land. After crossing the Sinai and the more terrifying border (he told his children that if they made any noise cats would devour them) he and his family walked along a dirt road until they were picked up by Israeli soldiers. Since then they have become part of a political juggling game between the town of Beer'sheva, where the majority of illegal immigrants gather, and the government. That's how he ended up in the Rose Garden in Jerusalem, across the street from the Knesset, the seat of the Israeli government. He and 54 others were bussed there by the town of Beer'Sheva, a problem to be dealt with by someone else.
When we take The Devil Came on Horseback to festivals and speak after, we stress to audiences that the crisis in Darfur is on-going, that these people need our help and they need it now. We are trying to get the film widely seen to help raise money to end the genocide and help those who have survived re-build their lives. This travesty, the first genocide of the 21st century, is happening in plain sight and, as I told the audience in Jerusalem, it is happening in Israel too. No one who considers himself a person of conscience should feel they cannot help: go to our website and find many ways to "do something".
The last time I saw Ishmael he was trying to rest on the ground outside the Knesset, coping with a sick child and an uncertain future. Some people there told me the government would help them, others told me they would be bussed away again on Sunday. He is arguably one of the lucky ones. Right now he does not feel so lucky. He is exhausted, frightened and totally discouraged. I gave him a copy of the film, hoping it might help persuade somebody that "never again" should start right now.