With media attention and grassroots political efforts focused on the Darfur region of Sudan now more than ever, it seems only natural that a documentary would emerge highlighting the humanitarian crisis taking place in the region. Darfur Now, directed by Ted Braun and featuring celebrities such as Don Cheadle and George Clooney, widens the focus to the international stage. The film centers around six individuals with unique ties to the conflict in the Sudan. Their stories weave together seamlessly to provide a variety of reflections focused on ending the conflict.

The documentary includes such remarkably different individuals as Pablo Recalde, who heads the World Food Program’s work in West Darfur; Adam Sterling, an activist from California leading the grassroots Sudan Divestment Task Force; Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the prosecutor for the International Criminal Court charged with investigating crimes in Darfur; Hejewa Adam, a female Sudan Liberation Army soldier; and Cheadle, who works with Clooney to lobby the governments of China and Egypt.

Braun said that his intent in making the film was to reach out to people and impel them to take action. His outrage over what he considered a lack of awareness among the public, Braun said, initially sparked his interest in creating the film, so he made it his mission to reach as wide an audience as possible, not merely the experts. To do this, Braun said he knew he had to locate subjects whom audiences would “fall in love with.”

“Delivering the story of Darfur from as wide a range as possible had been part of the design of the film from the get-go,” he said.

Braun recalls his first meeting with Adam, an introduction that took place in pitch blackness on the top of a mountain in order to keep her identity a secret. In silhouette, Braun said he could make out that the “sister revolutionary,” as the male rebels frequently call women, wore her bright national garb. As Adam recounted an attack by the janjaweed militia that left her child dead, Braun was struck by the pain and emotion in her voice.

Before filming, Braun and his team found a drawing on the wall of a building in Darfur — a heart, inside of which were the worlds “I will die for Darfur.” All of Adam’s scenes take place with that image in the background, a testament and symbol of a traumatic past that caused her to take up arms against the Sudanese government. Adam represents the personal, human story of individuals caught in the conflict. Braun made sure to widen the scope by showing the other figures involved.

When he first began work on the documentary in 2006, Braun said he hoped to capture the legal perspective of the conflict as events played out in the International Criminal Court. However, as the director related, that nearly did not happen. In late 2006, time for making the film was running out, Braun said, and he still could not contact Luis Moreno-Ocampo. Finally, Braun said with a laugh, he simply called up the ICC at The Hague. They answered (“in English”) and put him in touch with the prosecutor. It was as easy as that.

Braun said he met early on with Sterling, who went from waiting tables to heading the Sudan Divestment Task Force. Sterling is intriguing to audiences because they can relate to him on a personal level, whereas they would find it difficult with a rebel soldier or a court prosecutor.

“I went to college as a way to socialize,” Sterling said with a laugh in an interview. “I had never organized anything in my life, besides weekend bus trips to Tijuana.”

Sterling then took a course at UCLA about the Rwanda genocide and was drawn to take action. He began by handing out flyers and lobbying the state legislature of California to withdraw investments that would benefit the Sudanese government. Now the divestment campaign continues its work in six countries around the world. Many Georgetown students, in particular, will find themselves empathizing with Sterling’s moral outrage and his crusade for social justice. He is only one aspect of what makes the film both enjoyable and informative for audiences.

Darfur Now takes audiences from Los Angeles to New York City, from The Hague to a displaced persons camp in Darfur. The editing and production of the documentary as a whole is superb, creating an enjoyable film-going experience even for those normally unenthusiastic about documentaries. The filmmakers include a basic history of the conflict, which enables audiences to understand events in the region even if they go into the film with no prior knowledge.

Always capturing the conflict from a wide lens, Darfur Now combines both political and deeply personal aspects of the conflict. This film is a must-see for both those already interested in Darfur and others who would like to learn more.