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Jason Russell (born 1978) is an American film and theater director, choreographer, and activist who co-founded Invisible Children, Inc. He is the director of Kony 2012, a short documentary film that went viral in the beginning of March 2012. In the first two weeks it gained more than 83 million views on YouTube and became the subject of intensive media scrutiny and criticism. Its subject is the Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony, his alleged war crimes, and the movement to bring him to the International Criminal Court.

Career

Russell, along with Bobby Bailey and Laren Poole, originally created the Invisible Children organization in 2003 after "they traveled to Uganda and witnessed children camping out in the city of Gulu to avoid being kidnapped into the militia in their villages." They had originally traveled to Africa as student filmmakers, without a plan on what the documentary would actually focus on, having obtained their camera equipment from eBay. According to Russell, the trip was inspired by the 1993 death of Dan Eldon, who had been beaten to death while trying to document the ongoing famine in Somalia.

Originally, the group had been traveling to the Sudan to shoot their documentary, but lacking footage substantial enough to create a documentary, they travelled to Uganda to talk to Sudanese refugees. There their caravan was attacked by the Lord's Resistance Army. While in Gulu, Russell and the others interviewed and videotaped the children who were forced to commute to the city every night so as to avoid raids by the LRA on their home villages in Acholiland. While filming, the three men contracted malaria, but purposefully decided to leave any footage of them being sick out of the film so that it would be focused on the children. The footage resulted in the original Invisible Children documentary draft, which first began being screened in June 2004.

Russell and others returned to Uganda in 2005 for a six month stay to collect more interviews and documentation for the next Invisible Children documentary. In 2007 at the Heartland Film Festival, Russell, Bailey, and Poole were awarded the Pioneering Spirit Award for their 2006 production of Invisible Children: Rough Cut. In 2006 after the Washington D.C. screening of the rough cut by Russell and Poole, the "plight of the Acholi" was brought to the attention of the U.S. Congress and was approved to be discussed before the Congressional Human Rights Caucus.

Personal life

Russell is the younger son of Sheryl and Paul Russell, co-founders of Christian Youth Theater.

Russell discussed acting in an interview when he was 13 years old: "That was my life. It was what everybody around me did. I didn't even think about it. I did my first show at 8, and I have done over 20 plays since. You can't do this if you don't like it. You have to commit yourself to it."

Russell graduated from the USC School of Cinematic Arts. With Danica Jones and Jon M. Chu, he co-wrote a musical, Moxie, which the team sold to Steven Spielberg.

On October 23, 2004, he married Danica Jones in La Jolla, California. They have two children.

Russell is an Evangelical Christian, and in November 2011 he spoke publicly about his faith and its relation to his charity work in a speech at a Liberty University conference.

On March 15, 2012, Russell was detained by San Diego police after he was found in various states of undress, interfering with traffic and screaming incoherently. Russell was then taken to a local hospital. According to a family statement, the diagnosis was "brief reactive psychosis, an acute state brought on by extreme exhaustion, stress, and dehydration".

Filmography

References

1. "Jason Russell". Huffingtonpost.com. Retrieved 2012-03-17.
2. "'Kony 2012′ Creator's Breakdown Highlights Stress of Criticism". abcnews.go.com. 19 March 2012. Retrieved 20 March 2012.
3. Watts, Lindsay (March 9,2012). "Kony 2012 Highlights Importance Of Researching Charities". KRDO NewsChannel 13. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
4. "Wife blames exhaustion for 'irrational' behavior by 'Kony 2012' filmmaker". NBC News. March 16, 2012.
5. Mark Roth (April 26, 2009). "Uganda kidnappings target of Oakland march; Over 400 help the 'Invisible Children'". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved August 18, 2012.
6. ^ Tricia Friesen (October 30, 2009). "'Displace Me' event hosted to raise awareness of displacement camps". The Washburn Review. Retrieved August 18, 2012.
7. Ioana Patringenaru (August 17, 2009). "Saving the 'Invisible Children'". UC San Diego. Retrieved August 18, 2012.
8. Emily Lowell (February 21, 2005). "Film aims to shine light on the abducted children of Uganda". Redlands Daily Facts. Retrieved August 18, 2012.(subscription required)
9. ^ Scott R. Caseley (February 1, 2007). "Children at War". New England Film. Retrieved August 18, 2012.
10. Sally Deneen (February 1, 2009). "Reaching around the world: a youthful odyssey turns into a grassroots movement helping young victims of war-torn Africa". SUCCESS. Retrieved August 18, 2012. (subscription required)
11. Jenny Brown (October 2005). "Young Christian film team documents war-zone children". Christian Examiner. Retrieved August 18, 2012.
12. "Film Festival Concludes With 22,000 Attendees". Inside Indiana Business. October 30, 2007. Retrieved August 18, 2012.
13. Susan Ellis Washington (March 8, 2006). "State Dept: Crisis of abducted Ugandan children shown in documentary". US Federal News. Retrieved August 18, 2012. (subscription required)
14. March 16, 2012 . "Jason Russell: Neighbors tried to calm him as he acted 'bizarre' - latimes.com". Latimesblogs.latimes.com. p. m. Retrieved 2012-03-17. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |unused_data= ignored (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
15. "CCT". CYT San Diego. 2012-02-24. Retrieved 2012-03-17.
16. ^ "So You Want to Be A Star, Kid? : Theaters That Get Kids Into the Act - Page 2 - Los Angeles Times". Articles.latimes.com. 1992-03-12. Retrieved 2012-03-17.
17. "Jason Russell". invisiblechildren.com. Retrieved 18 March 2012.
18. Nicole Urso, "Dance Fever", Los Angeles Magazine, December 2003, page 94-100
19. "Theatrics put this duo in the spotlight | The San Diego Union-Tribune". Utsandiego.com. Retrieved 2012-03-17.
20. Orden, Erica (2011-10-18). "'Kony 2012' Director Jason Russell Detained After 'Meltdown' - Speakeasy - WSJ". Blogs.wsj.com. Retrieved 2012-03-17.
21. "Jason Russell and Alex Harris - Liberty University Convocation". libertyuniversity YouTube channel. January 17, 2012. Retrieved March 17, 2012.
22. http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/archive/world-old/kony-2012-film-maker-jason-russell-released-from-mental-ward/story-e6frev00-1226302345885
23. Flock, Elizabeth (March 16, 2012). "Invisible Children co-founder Jason Russell hospitalized after public breakdown - BlogPost - The Washington Post". The Washington Post. Washington DC: WPC. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved July 21, 2012.
24. "'Kony 2012' director suffered 'reactive psychosis,' family says". CNN.com. March 21, 2012. Retrieved March 21, 2012.

External links

• Jason Russell at IMDb
• Russell at Liberty University Convocation

Template:Persondata

• 1978 births
• American actors
• American documentary filmmakers
• American evangelicals
• American human rights activists
• American political activists
• American social activists
• Children's rights activists
• Founders of non-governmental organizations
• Invisible Children
• Living people
• People from El Cajon, California
• University of Southern California alumni