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My Star in the Sky: A Movie Screening and Reception

By June 6, 2019June 11th, 2023Events

As published at the Atlantic Council:

Please join the Atlantic Council on April 26, 2019 from 4:00 p.m. until 5:30 p.m. for a one-time viewing of the documentary ​My Star in the Sky​ (Lakalatwe​ in the Acholi language) and a wine and cheese reception.

Featuring:

Mr. Michael ‘Mick’ Mulroy

Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East

US Department of Defense

Mr. Sasha Lezhnev

Founding Director, Grassroots Reconciliation Group;

Deputy Director of Policy

Enough Project

Moderated by:

Ms. Bronwyn Bruton

Director of Programs and Studies and Deputy Director,

Africa Center

Atlantic Council

The film depicts a story of survival, friendship, and love between two child soldiers abducted by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) during the conflict between Uganda and Sudan. 

The United States became involved in efforts to combat the LRA in 2008, and in 2010 President Barack Obama signed the Lord’s Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act to end the insurgency and bring its leader, Joseph Kony, to justice via the standing of the International Criminal Court.

During the operations that followed, two members of the US special operations community became friends with Anthony Opoka, one of the child soldiers that managed to escape from the LRA and joined the Ugandan Army. The two friends thought that Anthony’s story was too inspirational to not be told.

The film will be followed by a discussion with Michael “Mick” Mulroy, the film’s writer and director, and Sasha Lezhnev of the Enough Project, a non-profit to end genocide and crimes against humanity, and Founding Director of the Grassroots Reconciliation Group, which helps reintegrate former LRA child soldiers back into their communities.

This event will be on-the-record and open to the media.

About the Makers

Michael “Mick” Mulroy is a retired Paramilitary Operations Officer in the CIA and current Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East in the Department of Defense. Eric “Olly” Oehlerich is a US Navy SEAL Commander and was a member of US Africa Command Special Operations Component at the time of the making of this documentary. 

This documentary has depictions and descriptions of extreme violence. Viewer discretion is advised. The CIA’s Publication Review Board has approved this documentary for release. Remarks made at this presentation or in the documentary itself are made in a personal capacity and do not necessarily represent the views of DoD or the US Government.