In her presentation, Katharina von Schroeder describes the challenges faced by a documentary filmmaker in researching, preparing for and filming “We Were Rebels”. The presentation also underscores the  significant amount of time needed to build trust and rapport, and the film demonstrated how complex phenomena, such as conflict or peace processes, can be shown through an in-depth study of a single person or place. The film is an award-winning feature-length documentary filmed over two years, which follows the trajectory of a young nation, South Sudan, in overwhelming euphoria from their recent independence until the outbreak of war in December 2013. The central character is Agel, a former child soldier turned basketball captain, who returns to his home country to help rebuild it after decades of war.

Katharina von Schroeder is a film director and current SCID Student. She completed her film studies at the Konrad Wolf School for Film and TV in Potsdam Babelsberg with the feature length documentary “My globe is broken in Rwanda“, which was shown at several festivals and won the Max Ophüls Preis in 2010. During and after her studies, she worked as an editor and author for independent productions, as well as TV stations including the BBC, ZDF, ARTE and Al Jazeera. She has directed a number of films, including “We Were Rebels” and “The Two Sudans”.