MENDE NAZER AS GUEST AT THE PUBLIC FILM EVENING “I AM SLAVE” ON 24 JUNE IN KARLSRUHE

Karlsruhe. Mende Nazer is a welcome international guest in Karlsruhe: the bestselling author, whose autobiography about her fate as a Sudanese slave has been translated into 36 languages, is coming to the fan-shaped city once again on Friday, 24 June, to personally attend the public film evening “I am slave” for the benefit of the Mende Nazer Foundation based in Karlsruhe. The benefit event – a cooperation between the Mende Nazer Foundation, the Filmboard Karlsruhe e. V. and the Stadtmedienzentrum Karlsruhe at the Landesmedienzentrum Baden-Württemberg (LMZ) – will take place at the Landesmedienzentrum Baden-Württemberg in Moltkestraße 64 on 24 June at 6 pm. Entry to the charity film evening is free. Donations for the international Mende Nazer Foundation are requested. Janan Sutherland (Canada), Chairman of the Mende Nazer Foundation, will introduce the film evening about the life of Mende Nazer and present the foundation. After the screening of the film “I am slave”, which was first shown publicly at the Toronto International Film Festival (in 2010), there will be a round of interviews with Mende Nazer, Janan Sutherland and Tom Høyem, former Karlsruhe City Councillor and Director of the European School Karlsruhe (ESK). D. This will be followed by a standing reception with buffet. Mende Nazer’s story: From slave to free bestselling author Mende Nazer, who now lives in New York, has travelled the world to tell her life story from slave to free bestselling author. Around the age of twelve, she was abducted in Nuba in Sudan after a military raid, gang-raped and sold to a slave trader in the capital Khartoum. The adolescent was locked up for eight years. Tag ein, Tag aus ertrug sie körperliche Gewalt, arbeitete rund um die Uhr. Passed on to the wife of a Sudanese ambassador in London, Mende Nazer remained enslaved and degraded in her human rights until the day of her escape on 11 September 2000. The British journalist Damien Lewis not only helped her to escape, but also convinced her to write about her fate. Her autobiography “Slave” was published in 2002 and became a bestseller. Mende Nazer has found supporters worldwide, including in Karlsruhe, for her current life goal of providing children in the Nuba Mountains with a school education.

Connection to Karlsruhe:
For many years, Tom Høyem, who was born in Karlsruhe and is Danish, has maintained close contact with Mende Nazer – it was on his initiative that the Mende Nazer Foundation was founded in Karlsruhe seven years ago, and he was its chairman until 2015. Even as ESK Director, Tom Høyem, together with parents from the European School Karlsruhe and other foundation members, campaigned worldwide for education and the construction of schools in Sudan. Like Janan Sutherland. The officer in the Canadian Navy built the first educational facility in the north-east African country back in 2009 together with other helpers. “He was also a peace officer in Nuba for a year,” reports Tom Høyem, who is now Vice President of the foundation.

“The Filmboard Karlsruhe is committed to human rights” Cooperation partners for the film evening on 24 June were quickly found in Karlsruhe. “The Filmboard Karlsruhe has been committed to human rights since its beginnings and the film evening with Mende Nazer immediately interested us because this is also an important topic for Karlsruhe,” says Dr Oliver Langewitz, Managing Director of the Filmboard, explaining the association’s commitment. The “Karlsruhe Weeks against Racism” organised in March 2016 and the “Festival of International Understanding” are further examples of how the Filmboard, which represents the interests of filmmakers in the Karlsruhe TechnologyRegion, is involved in such issues. The film evening on 24 June is also a harbinger of the “Heimattage Baden-Württemberg 2017 in Karlsruhe”, which also includes the sub-theme “Heimat im Wandel”.

Full programme for Mende Nazer in Karlsruhe:
For the seventh anniversary of the foundation, Mende Nazer is expecting a film evening on 24 June, an extensive programme in Karlsruhe. The Mende Nazer Foundation will hold at the 25. and 26 June in Karlsruhe for its annual meeting. As with the benefit concert “berührtouches” with the Blue Lake Orchestra and choir from Michigan in aid of the Mende Nazer Foundation in June 2014 at the Karlsruhe Concert Hall, Mende Nazer was also a personal guest in the fan-shaped city last year. “Lord Mayor Dr Frank Mentrup received her in the town hall,” recalls Tom Høyem.
About the Mende Nazer Foundation:
In addition to founder Mende Nazer, the following members are active on the board of the Mende Nazer Foundation: Chairman Janan Sutherland (Canada), Deputy Chairman Tom Høyem (Denmark), Dr Sabine Röser (Karlsruhe), Dr Jacqueline Ribeiro (Karlsruhe), Daniel Gassner, Director of the European School Karlsruhe (ESK), Dr Ulrike Heiden (Karlsruhe), Caroline Clegg (United Kingdom), Dr Henning Huffer (Karlsruhe) and Angela Wipper (Karlsruhe).