We don’t choose the colour of our skin, or the place where we are born. But for people with albinism in Tanzania, their appearance has made them a hunted, sub-human species.

“We are killed. We are dismembered,” says Josephat Torner, one of the albino subjects in Harry Freeland’s documentary, In the Shadow of the Sun, which had a preview screening at the Frontline Club Monday 26 November.

Director Harry Freeland discusses “In the Shadow of the Sun” at the Frontline Club

Since 2006, witchdoctors in Tanzania have made ever louder claims that albino body parts, when used in certain potions or rituals, can cure sickness and bring prosperity – a promotion at work, election to office, or a boom in mining or fishing.

“They call me ‘white medicine,’” an albino child says of schoolyard bullies.

Freeland explained during the Q&A after the screening:

“There’s really three [types of] people responsible for the murders. There’s the people that aren’t in the film at all, that no one’s caught, who are the main people fueling the whole trade … body parts are selling for millions of shillings. So, someone with a lot of money … government officials, policemen, fishermen, people in the mining industry. Witchdoctors have obviously started this rumour … and then it’s the poor people in Tanzania who are carrying it out.”

In the film, Freeland and Josephat travel to a cave to meet a witchdoctor, who admits that he will hide in trees, waiting for the right moment to pounce on an albino. In another scene, an albino friend tells Josephat how a man once leapt from a tree and tried to kill him while he walked alone outside his home one evening.

“There’s always fear,” Josephat said.

Josephat spends his life traveling to places where albinos have been murdered, gaining the support of local chiefs to give talks to their villages.

“If society thinks of me as sub-human,” he explains, “then I need to find a solution, to make them re-accept me.”

“Josephat is so lonely,” Freeland reflected. “No one else really wants to do it. No one else is really doing the same kind of thing he’s doing, he funds it himself. So, he doesn’t get paid that much money, but he, kind of, leaves his family behind, and goes around the country to do those things. I always found that amazing.”

Freeland, Josephat and many others are making an impact. Tanzania’s Prime Minister has adopted two children with albinism, and “stripped all the witchdoctors in northern Tanzania of their licenses [so that] they now have to reapply in what is a quite rigorous process,” Freeland said. Tanzania elected its first albino MP, and the number of killings in 2012 finally declined from the previous year.

Nonetheless, the demand for albino body parts remains.

“Tanzania is definitely the worst,” Freeland said, “but it is spreading into other countries, so in Nigeria, there’s been killings, Mali, South Africa, Burundi. As Josephat would put it, it’s ‘spreading like a fire.’”

More information on future UK screenings and the work of Josephat can be found on the website of In the Shadow of the Sun.

Over 130 people with albinism have been brutally murdered or left mutilated in Tanzania since 2008, fuelled by a belief that albino body parts used in witchcraft will bring about prosperity and good fortune. While many people with albinism are killed at birth or rejected by their families, those who grow up risk being murdered every day of their life.

In the Shadow Of the Sun tells the story of two members of the Tanzanian Albino Society who follow their dreams in the face of prejudice and fear. Against the backdrop of an escalation in brutal murders, 15-year old Vedastus dreams of completing his education while no school can guarantee his safety. Josephat Torner has dedicated his life to campaigning against the discrimination. He stands and faces the killings head on, travelling through the country confronting communities who may be hiding the murderers.

Through an intimate portrait of Vedastus and Josephat Torner director Harry Freeland reveals a story of deep-rooted superstition, suffering and incredible strength.

Directed by Harry Freeland
Duration: 86′
Year: 2012

In parts of Eastern Africa a physically distinct group is hunted for body parts believed to have magical powers – Albinos.

There are over 150,000 people living in Tanzania who have the genetic skin disorder marked by the complete or partial absence of pigment in skin.

This is the story of a unique football team playing in Tanzania’s third division and how it takes on the myths about albinism that have lead to thousands of people being dismembered and brutally killed.

The film follows the team as they travel to play matches in areas known for killing albinos and fight to dispel stereotypes surrounding albinism through the game of football. 

Followed by Q&A and discussion with director Marc Hoeferlin and Africa Investigates’ Spell of the Albino director Claudio Von Planta.

Directed by: Marc Hoeferlin, Barney Broomfield, and Juan Reina

Year: 2010

Length: 65’35

The following week we will be launching a series of discussions, screenings and workshops examining the risks faced by journalists around the world. 

The award-winning, genre-bending documentary filmmaker Mads Brügger launches our new masterclass series, and Tweets from Tahrir is the first of our Screenings from the Frontline with Al Jazeera.

February’s #FCBBCA will bring together a distinguished panel to discuss Iran’s internal power struggle and its turbulent relationship with the West. 

We will also be examining the rebuilding of Libya and Fawzia Koofi will be discussing why she wants to become President of Afghanistan, while Matt Frei will be joining us to look back on his career.

Follow us on Twitter and catch up on any events you missed on the Forum blog or download our podcasts on iTunes.

ALL EVENTS ARE OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

“Orphans are Africa’s tsunami” claims photographer Carol Allen Storey, who has documented the lives of orphans in Sub Saharan Africa.

Two key groups of children provide a focal point for her work. One, a gang of Ugandan youngsters known as the ‘Dustbin tribe’ who live and play on a rubbish tip, the other, lucky enough to be in school in Tanzania, are marked out from their classmates with red badges to signify their HIV positive status.

Carol Allen Storey is a committed photojournalist who specialises in chronicling complex humanitarian and social issues, especially amongst women and children. 

Storey’s work has been exhibited and published internationally. She was a finalist in the Taylor Wessing Portrait Awards at the National Portrait Gallery, a finalist at the New York Photography Festival, and a finalist in the Spider Awards. In 2008 she was selected for the Press Photographer’s Year exhibition. She has showcased three solo exhibitions in London: Anything is Possible at the AOP, The Vanishing Assets of Africa at Inmarsat Gallery, and The savagery and poetry of Africa at Proud Gallery. In 2009 she was appointed a UNICEF ambassador.

Sue Steward will act as moderator for the event. Steward is a writer, radio broadcaster, photo-editor and curator who specialises in visual arts and world music. She is Photography Critic for The Evening Standard and for BBC Radio 2’s Arts Magazine with Claudia Winkleman, as well as a regular critic on the Radio 3’s World Routes programme. She is a founder member of the (Sony) World Photography Awards, a Trustee for the charity PhotoVoice, and a member of the Steering Committee for the March 2011 FORMAT International Photography Festival in Derby. In addition, she is a contributor to the British Journal of Photography and Eye magazine, and a feature writer for the Daily Telegraph and Observer.