Tickets are still available for a gala fundraising screening on Tuesday (March 3) of a powerful documentary looking at the barbaric treatment of people with albinism in Tanzania.
The award-winning film, In the Shadow of The Sun, will be shown at Leighton Park School.
Former pupil Jon Beale, 26, worked as a Swahili translator when the film was being made and now is the managing director of a charity called Standing Voice which aims to stop human rights violations against people with albinism.
This documentary, filmed observationally by Harry Freeland over six years, follows the life journeys of two people with albinism in Tanzania as they pursue their ambitions in the face of severe social exclusion.
Since 2007 – 75 people with albinism in the country have been brutally killed for their body parts to be used in witchcraft rituals, widely believed to bestow good fortune and wealth.
When the film was released in 2012 it immediately grabbed the world’s attention, and has gone on to be played at over 50 international film festivals and broadcast in over 10 countries. Last week the film was shown to the UN.
Jon lived in Reading when he was younger and for three years attended Leighton Park School, which has a distinctive ethos based on Quaker values.
Jon and Harry will be attending the special screening on Tuesday which will be raising money for the charity.
Tickets are £10 (students £1) and bookings can be madehttps://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/in-the-shadow-of-the-sun-charity-screening-at-leighton-park-in-aid-of-standing-voice-tickets-15614457262
To donate to the charity, visit the special Justgiving page:www.justgiving.com/Leightonpark-standingvoice