Jason Russell (born October 12, 1978) is an American film and theater
director, choreographer, and activist who co-founded Invisible
Children, Inc. He is the director of Kony 2012, a short documentary
film that went viral in the beginning of March 2012. In the first two
weeks it gained more than 83 million views on YouTube and became the
subject of media scrutiny and criticism. Its subject is the Ugandan
rebel leader Joseph Kony, his alleged war crimes, and the movement to
bring him to the International Criminal Court.Russell is the younger
son of Sheryl and Paul Russell, co-founders of Christian Youth
Theater, which Russell was part of as a child. Russell discussed
acting in an interview when he was 13 years old: "That was my life. It
was what everybody around me did. I didn't even think about it. I did
my first show at 8, and I have done over 20 plays since. You can't do
this if you don't like it. You have to commit yourself to it."Russell
graduated from the USC School of Cinematic Arts.Russell, with Bobby
Bailey and Laren Poole, created the Invisible Children organization in
2003 after they "traveled to Uganda and witnessed children camping out
in the city of Gulu to avoid being kidnapped into the militia in their
villages." With camera equipment obtained from eBay, they went to
Africa as student filmmakers but had no plan for the focus of their
intended documentary. According to Russell, the trip was inspired by
the 1993 death of Dan Eldon, who had been beaten to death while trying
to document the ongoing famine in Somalia.
director, choreographer, and activist who co-founded Invisible
Children, Inc. He is the director of Kony 2012, a short documentary
film that went viral in the beginning of March 2012. In the first two
weeks it gained more than 83 million views on YouTube and became the
subject of media scrutiny and criticism. Its subject is the Ugandan
rebel leader Joseph Kony, his alleged war crimes, and the movement to
bring him to the International Criminal Court.Russell is the younger
son of Sheryl and Paul Russell, co-founders of Christian Youth
Theater, which Russell was part of as a child. Russell discussed
acting in an interview when he was 13 years old: "That was my life. It
was what everybody around me did. I didn't even think about it. I did
my first show at 8, and I have done over 20 plays since. You can't do
this if you don't like it. You have to commit yourself to it."Russell
graduated from the USC School of Cinematic Arts.Russell, with Bobby
Bailey and Laren Poole, created the Invisible Children organization in
2003 after they "traveled to Uganda and witnessed children camping out
in the city of Gulu to avoid being kidnapped into the militia in their
villages." With camera equipment obtained from eBay, they went to
Africa as student filmmakers but had no plan for the focus of their
intended documentary. According to Russell, the trip was inspired by
the 1993 death of Dan Eldon, who had been beaten to death while trying
to document the ongoing famine in Somalia.
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