War Babies () is a Canadian documentary film, directed by Raymonde Provencher and released in 2002.Manon Dumais, "War Babies / Raymonde Provencher : Mère courage". Voir, December 5, 2002. Centred on the prevalence of rape as a tool of war, the film focuses in large part on Ryan, an adopted Canadian man who is travelling back to his birthplace in Bangladesh to learn more about his history as the product of a Pakistani soldier raping a Bangladeshi woman during the Bangladesh Liberation War.Colin Hunter, "Innocents born of hatred". Waterloo Region Record, April 28, 2003.
The film also highlights the stories of Savera, a mother of seven children who were all murdered during the Rwandan genocide, who was then raped repeatedly when she tried to find safety; Nusreta, a Bosnian woman who was raped during the Yugoslav Wars in the 1990s; Mrs. Chung, a Korean woman who became pregnant when the Japanese army forced her into serving as a comfort woman during World War II. She had a son, who recently discovered his father's true Japanese identity; and Hailing, a young woman who was the product of her mother being raped by guerrillas during the Nicaraguan Revolution.John Griffin, "Hard, sad look at war and rape". Montreal Gazette, December 6, 2002.
The film premiered in November 2002 at the Montreal International Documentary Festival,Luc Perreault, "L'état du monde selon les Rencontres du documentaire". La Presse, November 6, 2002. and had a brief theatrical run in Montreal in December, before being broadcast by Télé-Québec in February 2003 as an episode of the documentary series L'Œil ouvert.Basem Boshra, "Rad-Can hush-hush on big plots". Montreal Gazette, February 24, 2003.
Awards It was subsequently screened at the 2003 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, where it was named the winner of the Hot Docs Audience Award."Hot Docs festival hands out 12 awards". The Globe and Mail, May 6, 2003.
It won four Gémeaux Awards in 2003, for Best Documentary, Best Research, Best Editing and Best Sound.Gaetan Charlebois, "A prize gala weekend". Montreal Gazette, November 24, 2003.
Legacy The film was slated to be screened in a retrospective of Provencher's films at Hot Docs in 2020.Frederick Blichert, "Hot Docs to Focus On the work of Raymonde Provencher". Playback, January 21, 2020. When the event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the retrospective was postponed instead of taking place as part of the online program,Victoria Ahearn, "Hot Docs festival to launch online version with more than 135 films". Canadian Press, May 5, 2020. and instead was staged at the 2022 festival.Judy Wolfe, "Raymonde Provencher Tells Stories that Need to Be Told". Point of View, April 21, 2022.
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