Prisoners of a White God is a documentary about the Akha people, produced and distributed by Twin Star in September 2008. The documentary is about a Czech researcher, Tomáš Ryška, who goes to the Thai

Thailand

Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...

 and Laotian

Laos

Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...

mountains in order to search and document the causes of wrong doing and violence done to the indigenous peoples and their children by Christian missionaries.

Overview

According to the film, the good intentions of converting these indigenous people to the "true" religion hide the human rights violations of theft of land, forced relocation, cultural genocide and imposition of power with a racist view on their society. The crimes which the Christian missionaries are accused of include kidnapping of children from their villages to work in tea plantations and the selling of children into the sex trade. The documentary contrasts the apparent wealth and cleanliness of the missionary with the undercover child trafficking that they carry out. One missionary is seen expressing regret over the revelation of this reality to the outside world as a threat to the continuing work of their organizations among these people.

Awards

The documentary won the Grand Prixes at RAFF Film Festival, Ekofilm Festival, Festival of the Mountain Films, "It's Up To You" Film Festival, the Main Prize at Ekotopfilm in 2008 and the award for "the best script of a feature-length documentary film" at the Berdyansk International Film Festival.

External links

• Prisoners of a White God on Google Videos
• Prisoners of a White God on engagemedia.org