ABOUT THE PRODUCTION:
Christopher Dillon Quinn, a New York City-based filmmaker, was stunned by the media coverage he saw about the Lost Boys in early 2001, particularly a New York Times Magazine piece by journalist Sara Corbett. Hooked by the dramatic elements of an unfolding story, Quinn knew instinctively that he wanted to make a film about the boys and was fortunate to find $50,000 in seed money to get the project underway.

"By July of that year, we were in Kenya," says Quinn.
Working with Molly Bradford Pace, who managed much of the shoot's production from New York, Quinn teamed up with co-director Tommy Walker and a small film crew and traveled to Kenya's Kakuma refugee camp, which was operated by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. They arrived to find a population of almost 90,000 people, of which 12,000 were considered to be "Lost Boys of Sudan."

Housed in cinderblock huts at the UN compound, the filmmakers had few restrictions as they took their cameras into the crowds of refugees. Their particular focus was on the "Dinka" boys (the largest tribe in the southern Sudan) who would soon depart for the States under an International Rescue Committee program to resettle them in America. Quinn and Walker began honing in on those who had been selected to depart the following week.

"We immediately gravitated toward Daniel because he had started something called Parliament and what he was doing was amazing," says Quinn. Daniel Abol Pach, who, like most of the boys, had already been living in the Kenya camp for ten years, had emerged as a popular figure in the camp by gathering hundreds of fellow survivors under the shade of the trees and entertaining them.

"There would be times when these boys and young men didn't eat for 4 or 6 days - they would run out of food and when that happened, everything in the camp slowed down," explains Quinn. "They would call those 'the black days.' But Daniel would gather hundreds of them under the trees and he would be entertaining people, keeping their spirits up. "
Since Daniel and his best friend Panther Bior had both been selected to go to the U.S., Quinn and Walker began to document their stories.

After shooting for a number of days, they found John Bul Dau. "Or rather he found us," recalls Quinn. "John had found his name on the posted board for the U.S. move and he came to us because he had observed our cameras and thought we might be part of the American government."
"He came to appeal on behalf of his friends that were not selected, he adds. "We were immediately taken with his selflessness. "

John, who fled the fighting in Sudan at the age of 13, was slightly older and much taller than the other boys, and had become a leader to more than 1200 other young boys who had escaped the slaughter.

To lend some historical context to the massive exodus of children, the Second Sudanese Civil War, which started in 1983, was one of the longest lasting and deadliest wars of the latter 20th century. Approximately 1.9 million civilians were killed in southern Sudan, and more than 4 million were forced to flee their homes at one time or another since the war began. Although the war allegedly ended with the signing of a peace agreement in January 2005, the conflicts continue.
The young men selected for the trip in August of 2001 had never flown on an airplane, and they certainly had no idea about the people and events that awaited them.

"There were 90 guys who traveled on the plane but there was no one there to answer their questions besides the stewardesses," recalls Quinn. "I think they felt that the film crew was part of the process so there was a myriad of questions and wonder, which often extended into telephone conversations later."

From Kakuma to Nairobi and on to Brussels and finally New York, the boys traveled as a pack until they arrived at JFK International and broke up into small groups and headed for their respective cities.

Quinn stayed on the road with the subjects for the first three weeks, accompanying Daniel and Panther to Pittsburgh and John to Syracuse, witnessing the culture clash that greeted the boys in their new homes.

The learning curve was steep as volunteers from the community introduced John, Panther and Daniel to household items and American customs. From refrigerators, lamps and alarm clocks to shaving cream and donuts with sprinkles, the everyday objects that Americans take for granted were a baffling new discovery for young men who had lived with next-to-nothing in a refugee camp.

For Daniel and Panther, a trip to the local supermarket in Pittsburgh was a surreal experience. These two young men, who had survived on only minimal food in the camps, now encountered a bounty of produce that they could hardly comprehend.
"You can imagine their shock when they observed an entire aisle full of dog and cat food," says Quinn somberly. "It was quite an experience."

Quinn also recalls an evening in which a local family took Daniel and Panther out to dinner.
"When they first arrived in the U.S., there was a tendency to over-feed them. On this particular night in Pittsburgh, they were taken by a local family to a Benihana restaurant and it was quite painful for them," he says. "They knew that all the guys back in the camp were hungry and they were aware of consumption at every turn they made."

But Quinn points out that that none of the boys expressed anger with the inequity they observed.
"Its not in their nature, which is uniquely 'Dinka," explains Quinn. "They are not judgmental. "
John Bul, a contemplative man who felt a great responsibility to the boys he left behind, arrived in Syracuse with three other young men but struggled with the suffering of the others who were left behind in Africa. "We are missing friends…we are missing our fellow countrymen," he often said. As each young man began to acclimate to their new environment and its many modern conveniences, it wasn't long before the three of them got jobs and began making plans for further schooling

One year into America, John was working full shift at a factory, and working a second job at McDonalds at night. Daniel was processing checks for Mellon Bank on a night shift and Panther was a bus boy at a large downtown hotel. However, the boys faced an increasing sense of loneliness and isolation, observing that Americans work such long hours that they often have limited time for family and friends.

At a reunion for Lost Boys in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the cameras are there to record the joy of rediscovered friendships, but they also observe the juxtaposition of the old Dinka traditions and the modern American culture that now dominates their lives. Dancing and talking with each other, the meetings prove invaluable for maintaining cultural ties and planning financial support for the community of friends and family back in Africa.

Working through channels of the International Red Cross and other relief agencies, many of the young men began to make inquiries about family members whom they had not seen for more than a decade. To his amazement, John Bul received a letter informing him that his father, mother, three brothers and three sisters were alive and living in Uganda.
"When I got the news, I jumped up!" says John. 'I don't believe my ears or my eyes."

GOING THE DISTANCE:

As the months pass, the filming continued and the stakes got higher for Quinn and his colleagues.
"I was one of those filmmakers who put everything on his credit cards," admits Quinn candidly. "I put cameras and film stock on it and I dumped my entire life into it. At one point, I had to face the fact that I was $50-60,000 in debt. But none of it really ever mattered to me, in a way, because I was also so fixed on the guys and their story that I evolved quite a bit through the process. They had a profound effect on how I looked at the world."

Producer Molly Bradford Pace, who helped keep the production afloat by tag-teaming and sharing duties with her colleagues, explains, "I got involved because I wanted to work on a project that was fulfilling to me and that was about something I thought was important. I learned from the three boys that the essence of every human being is the same, no matter his or her background."

After four years of shooting, Quinn felt he had found an ending for the documentary when John Bul was not only able to find his family living in a Ugandan refugee camp, but he was able to bring both his mother and sister to live with him in the United States, completing a circle that had been broken by the terror of the Sudanese war.

But financially, the documentary team had run low on resources and it looked as if they would need to shut down the edit. At that point, a stroke of good fortune propelled the project forward. Quinn asked his friends, actors Catherine Keener and Dermot Mulroney to look at a rough cut of the film. Touched emotionally by the film that had been assembled, she suggested that Nicole Kidman, who was also starring in "The Interpreter," take a look at the film, as she would be an ideal narrator. Keener and Mulroney suggested that Quinn send it to their friend Brad Pitt to take to take a look at an early cut in Los Angeles.

After viewing a rough cut, then nearly a year later, the final cut, Kidman was on board to voice the narration that Quinn would write, and Pitt not only volunteered financial support, but also lent his name to the project, which resulted in the team being able to secure the private financing needed to complete the film.

"There's no question that their support gave us a huge jolt," explains the director.
Back in the cutting room in New York City, Quinn worked diligently with editor Geoff Richman for the better part of a year to find the dramatic narrative in hundreds of hours of footage.
Once Nicole Kidman completed her narration, the four and a half year project had come to a satisfying end.

"What I find remarkable about this film is that it communicates the incredible optimism and resilience that the Lost Boys share, despite the suffering and sadness they knew for so many years," says Kidman. "When John, Daniel and Panther are given the opportunity for a fresh start in America, they have the option to put the past behind them, but instead, they work two or three jobs in order to send money back to Africa. Their friendships are sacred."

In January of 2006, five and half years after the filmmakers were introduced to the Lost Boys in Kenya, GOD GREW TIRED OF US was accepted into Competition at the Sundance Film Festival.
"We went to Sundance as free agents and the experience became both exciting and daunting," recalls Quinn.

Winning both the Grand Jury Prize as well as the Audience Award, Quinn and the production crew were elated with their success, which they were able to share with John, Daniel and Panther, who joined them in Utah at the festival.

John Bul, who had begun a non-profit organization to raise funds for those left behind in Sudan, had the opportunity to speak to audience members at a Q&A following the film in Park City. He told them of his plans to raise funds for a medical clinic in his home county of Duk, Sudan, which would be the first hospital in that county "since God created the earth." Following a screening, a woman approached with her checkbook and asked how she might make a contribution. John thanked her gratefully when she handed him a personal check for $25.00 but a moment later, he looked again and realized that she had donated $25,000. He searched the crowd, but she had disappeared. Soon, another women contributed $5,000. He returned to Syracuse, proud of the attention that the film had received, but thrilled with the $30,000 that had been contributed to his building fund for the Duk Lost Boy Clinic.

"Nothing, nothing, nothing is more important than to help the African people…nothing will make me happier than to put smiles on their faces," says Bul.
S

peaking warmly of his association with Quinn and his colleagues over the years, he adds, " They're not only filmmakers, but I see them as part of our Sudanese people. They understand our culture."

ABOUT THE DINKA PEOPLE:

The largest ethnic tribe in southern Sudan, the Dinka are primarily a pastoral people, relying on cattle herding at riverside camps in the dry season and growing millet, grains, peanuts, beans, corn and other crops during the rainy season. Women do most of the agriculture, but men clear the forest for gardening sites. The boys tend goats and sheep while the men are responsible for the cattle, which are central to the culture.

Although girls learn to cook, boys do not and in fact, "Lost Boy" Daniel Pach makes a joke about having to hide his cooking equipment while in the Kakuma refugee camp among so many Dinka men. Cooking is done outdoors in pots over a stone hearth. Women also weave baskets and make pottery. Men, on the other hand, are responsible for fishing, cattle herding and periodic hunting. The basic Dinka diet is centered around heavy millet porridge, eaten with milk or with a vegetable and spice sauce.

The Dinka expect an individual to be generous to others in order to achieve status in the society. They base their life on values of honor and dignity, choosing to discuss and solve their problems in public forums. Their primary art forms are poetry and song, which communicate their history and social identity. They sing praise songs to their ancestors and the living.

ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS:

Christopher Quinn was born in Washington, D.C. and studied documentary and ethnographic filmmaking at the Anthropology Film Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico. His films include the documentary short THE LIFE AND ART OF HOWARD FINSTER and the narrative short HANDS OF FATE starring Dermot Mulroney (About Schmidt, Family Stone). Most recently, the feature-length documentary GOD GREW TIRED OF US-written, directed, and produced by Quinn, was awarded both the 2006 Sundance Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award. In 2006, Quinn was presented with the prestigious Emerging Documentary Filmmaker Award by the International Documentary Association for GOD GREW TIRED OF US. He also recently completed directing the feature-length documentary 21 UP AMERICA, executive produced by Michael Apted - based on Apted's seminal UP series. 21 UP AMERICA will be released theatrically in early 2007. He is currently developing documentary and fictional feature-length films including a work entitled DRINKING WITH LEE MARVIN. Quinn lives and works in New York City.

Tommy Walker, Co-director/Producer, has worked in film and television for twenty years. He began his career in 1985 working in postproduction for National Geographic's Explorer series. In 1991, Walker was the production manager for the PBS documentary MANDELA IN AMERICA, which followed Mandela on his first visit to the United States. Walker has produced and directed big-budget films for Toyota, Mercedes, Daimler Chrysler and Hewlett Packard. In 2004, Walker produced the acclaimed, primetime Emmy-nominated, feature-length documentary film WITH ALL DELIBERATE SPEED for Discovery Communications Doc Series. Also in 2004, Walker produced the critically acclaimed A SOUTHERN TOWN that has been a mainstay of programming on Discovery Times Network.

Brad Pitt, Executive Producer, is one of the most prominent actors in the world, with starring roles in films such as TROY, FIGHT CLUB, OCEANS 11, SEVEN, BABEL, and as Jesse James in THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD. With his Plan B Productions, Pitt has also added producer to his credit. Pitt's role as the seductive hitchhiker in THELMA & LOUISE first brought him national attention. He then went on to star as the psychopathic serial killer in KALIFORNIA, the charismatic-but-doomed Paul Maclean in Robert Redford's A RIVER RUNS THROUGH IT, and the bloodsucking Louis in Neil Jordan's INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE. Pitt has been nominated twice for a Golden Globe Award -- for his work as Tristan, the passionate, untamable brother in Tri-Star's LEGENDS OF THE FALL and for his co-starring role in Terry Gilliam's TWELVE MONKEYS, for which he won the award.
Pitt's Plan B Productions has produced films including TROY and CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY, THE ASSASINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD, in which he stars, A MILLION LITTLE PIECES, THE DEPARTED and RUNNING WITH SCISSORS. Pitt recently formed the organization One with musician Bono to help Africa's long-standing issues with Poverty and AIDS. www.one.org.

Adam Schlesinger, Executive Producer, is an independent film producer and attorney in New York. Schlesinger previously served as Vice President of business affairs and production for Ergo Arts Inc. an independent film development and production company based in New York City, which produced the Sundance Film Festival award winning film SONGCATCHER. Prior to Ergo Arts, Schlesinger worked for Jean Doumanian Productions as Director of Development and Business Affairs. He worked on such films as Woody Allen's EVERYONE SAYS I LOVE YOU, DECONSTRUCTING HARRY, CELEBRITY, SWEET AND LOWDOWN and SMALL TIME CROOKS as well as David's Mamet's THE SPANISH PRISONER, Jason Alexander's JUST LOOKING and the independent films INTO MY HEART, SUNBURN and WOMAN TALKING DIRY. Adam's documentary experience includes Barbara Kopple's WILD MAN BLUES. He was also involved in several Off-Broadway plays as well as an associate producer of the soundtrack album for Woody Allen's film SWEET AND LOWDOWN.

Jack Schneider, Executive Producer, is the Managing Partner and portfolio manager of Colden Capital, an investment management firm based in New York City. Prior to founding Colden Capital in January 2000, Jack was a Managing Director and portfolio manager at Perry Capital LLC and a Financial Analyst at Goldman, Sachs & Co. in New York and London. From 1992 to 1993, he served in the White House Office of Political Affairs under President George Bush. Jack received an AB in Political Science from Brown University in 1992. Jack is a member of the Board of Directors of the Chief's Memorial Campership Fund, Inc. and the co-chairman of the Board of Directors of The Mount Sinai Children's Center Foundation.

Molly Bradford Pace, Producer, was born in New Milford, Conn. After attending the Rhode Island School of Design as a sculpture major, she moved to New York where she began working in independent film with directors Jim Jarmusch, Jon Jost, and others. In 1991, Molly moved to Israel to work for ABC News during the Gulf War. She later moved to Los Angeles where she production managed over fifty hours of programming for Fox and ABC. Upon her return to New York in 1997, Molly resumed her work in features, line producing eight independent films. For the past two years, she has worked primarily in documentaries. Her recent documentary credits include the Emmy nominated WHAT MATTERS (2001) for HBO, LAIFF Best Documentary BOUNCE for Showtime, and CROSSOVER for The Independent Film Channel.

Nicole Kidman, Narrator, is an Oscar-winning actress who first came to the attention of American audiences with her critically acclaimed performance in the riveting 1989 psychological thriller, DEAD CALM. Kidman received critical praise and awards for her performances in numerous films including EYES WIDE SHUT, TO DIE FOR, THE OTHERS, COLD MOUNTAIN, DOGVILLE and BIRTH. Her many accolades include an Oscar Nomination in 2002 for MOULIN ROUGE, and in 2003 she won the "Best Actress" Academy Award for THE HOURS.
Kidman's most recent credits include THE INTERPRETER, BEWITCHED and FUR. She has also voiced a role in director George Miller's animated penguin musical, HAPPY FEET and completed filming on director Oliver Hirschbiegel's (DOWNFALL) alien invasion thriller THE VISITING, co-starring Daniel Craig.

John Bul Dau, age 32, was born in Duk County in Southern Sudan. He was forced to flee his village as a child in 1987 and arrived at the Kakuma refugee camp 5 years later, where he had emerged as a group leader with responsibility for more than 1000 other Lost Boys. Selected to move to the United States, he relocated to Syracuse, New York to pursue a job and further schooling. Often working double-shifts, Dau has been employed by McDonalds, UPS, XTO and General Super Plating. He was fortunate to locate his parents and siblings in Uganda and Sudan, and raised the funds necessary to bring his mother and a sister to live with him in Syracuse in 2004. Now married to Martha, who was one of the "Lost Girls" brought to America, Dau has worked tirelessly on behalf of the citizens of Sudan. Dau's experiences as a Sudanese Lost Boy both in Africa and in America are recounted in his memoir GOD GREW TIRED OF US, which was written with Michael S. Sweeney. He is the founder of the American Care for Sudan Foundation, which raises funds to build the Duk Lost Boys Clinic, the first medical clinic in Duk County where Dau lived as a boy, and he has just been appointed Director of the Sudan Project for Direct Change, an organization established to assist the orphans and other vulnerable children of Africa.

Panther Bior, 27, was born in the town of Bor in the Sudan. Separated from his parents and four brothers in 1987, he walked for miles with other Lost Boys, surviving in Ethiopia for several years before arriving at the Kakuma (Kenya) refugee camp 1992.
Ten years later, he and his good friend Daniel Pach were selected to relocate to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where both now reside. He has worked as a busboy at the Omni William Penn Hotel and also held jobs as a bank clerk and a waiter before finding his current employment in Security. He finished his two-year associate degree and enrolled at the University of Pittsburgh for a semester, but is now attending Point Park University. In the summer of 2005, Bior made his first visit back to Africa - for the happy occasion of marriage. His wife, Nyanthiec, remains in Africa and Bior is working hard to bring her to the States. He has also made contact with three of his four brothers and is sponsoring his 19-year-old brother at a school in Nairobi.

Daniel Pach, 25, was born in Southern Sudan in the town of Bor. His three sisters and two brothers were separated from him in 1987. As a small boy, he traveled hundreds of miles with other Lost Boys, finally arriving in Kakuma, Kenya in 1992. During his ten years at the refugee camp, Pach grew into an inspirational leader who formed a large social community known as Parliament. Selected for a program that re-located Lost Boys in America, Pach settled in Pittsburgh, where he first roomed with Panther Bior. He worked as a check services clerk for Mellon Bank before beginning the job he currently holds in the produce department at the Whole Foods Market. After attending Bidwell training Center, he earned a GED and is now enrolled at Community College of Allegheny County where he studies Pharmacy Tech. Although he has not been back to Africa, he is in touch with two sisters and his little brother. His mother survived the war and is living in the Sudan.

National Geographic Films (NGF), which acquires, develops and produces theatrical motion pictures, is a division of National Geographic Ventures NGV), a wholly owned, taxable subsidiary of National Geographic Society, one of the largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations in the world. NGF co-presented the 2005 Best Documentary Oscar winner MARCH OF THE PENGUINS, which grossed over $77 million, making it the second-highest grossing documentary ever.

NGF is currently partnering on GOD GREW TIRED OF US; producing the wildlife adventure CALL OF THE NORTH, for Paramount Vantage; and co-producing with Edward Norton and Brad Pitt the 10-hour mini series of Stephen Ambrose's award-winning UNDAUNTED COURAGE: MERIWETHER LEWIS, THOMAS JEFFERSON, THE OPENING OF THE AMERICAN WEST for HBO.
National Geographic World Films, the specialty division of NGF, co-presented the 2004 documentary Oscar nominee THE STORY OF THE WEEPING CAMEL and last spring's MOUTAIN PATROL: KEKEXILI.

Founded in 1888, the National Geographic Society works to inspire people to care about the planet. NGV includes National Geographic Television production and distribution, National Geographic Television International, National Geographic Giant Screen Films, Kids TV, National Geographic Home Entertainment, and Digital Media business development, comprising Digital Motion, Nationalgeographic.com and National Geographic Maps. NGV creates and distributes content across multi-platforms and media, providing outlets for the hundreds of scientific and expedition-based grants awarded each year. For more information, go to www.nationalgeographic.com.