Institute Film Series: We Come as Friends

In his voyage across war-ravaged Sudan on his small handmade airplane, Hubert Sauper visits places and people at the time of the partition of the country. We Come As Friends reveals how the two new countries are especially vulnerable to sophisticated forms of neocolonialism often disguised as foreign aid. Through his interviews and images, the director of acclaimed Darwin’s Nightmare gains access to local populations, foreign workers, decision makers, Sudanese warlords, UN peacekeepers, and US evangelicals, thus accounting for the complexity and ironies of one of the most sinister situations on the planet. The screening will be followed by a discussion with Alden H. Young, Director of Africana Studies and Assistant Professor in the Department of History and Department of Global Studies and Modern Languages, Drexel University. His new book is, Transforming Sudan: decolonization, economic development and state-formation. This film runs 1 hour and 49 minutes. Reception to follow in the Fuld Hall Common Room.