April 21, 2008 — As part of its "Globalization and Education" Film Series, the University of Virginia's Curry School of Education will host a public lecture on Darfur, Rwanda and the issue of genocide in international peace talks by John Prendergast, former White House and International Crisis Group adviser and human rights activist. The lecture will take place on April 22 at 5:30 p.m., in Maury Hall room 209, and will be followed by a question-and-answer session and a screening of the film "Sand and Sorrow."

In "Sand and Sorrow" (runtime: 93 minutes), Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Paul Freedman joins a contingent of African Union peacekeeping forces in Darfur while a tragic and disturbing chapter in human history unfolds. Prendergast, Samantha Power and New York Times columnist Nick Kristof lead the viewer through burgeoning refugee camps along the Chad-Sudan border, past mass graves inside Darfur itself and into offices of the United States Senate to plead on behalf of the innocents of Darfur. This impassioned trio inspires a growing and vocal advocacy movement that extends from rural high schools to big-time college campuses, all the way to the halls of power in the U.S. and beyond. Freedman's camera is there to capture the heroic struggle between politics and humanity. George Clooney narrates the film.

For information about the film series, contact Carol Anne Spreen at cas9wt@virginia.edu or 434-924-0869.