On April 26, the Atlantic Council hosted a one-time viewing of the documentary ​My Star in the Sky​ (Lakalatwe​ in the Acholi language). 

The film depicts a story of survival, friendship, and love between two child soldiers abducted by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) during the conflict between Uganda and Sudan.

The United States became involved in efforts to combat the LRA in 2008, and in 2010 President Barack Obama signed the Lord’s Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act to end the insurgency and bring its leader, Joseph Kony, to justice via the standing of the International Criminal Court.

During the operations that followed, two members of the US special operations community became friends with Anthony Opoka, one of the child soldiers that managed to escape from the LRA and joined the Ugandan Army. The two friends thought that Anthony’s story was too inspirational to not be told.

The film screening was followed by a discussion with Michael “Mick” Mulroy, the film’s writer and director, and Sasha Lezhnev of the Enough Project, a non-profit to end genocide and crimes against humanity, and Founding Director of the Grassroots Reconciliation Group, which helps reintegrate former LRA child soldiers back into their communities.

About the Makers

Michael “Mick” Mulroy is a retired Paramilitary Operations Officer in the CIA and current Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East in the Department of Defense. Eric “Olly” Oehlerich is a US Navy SEAL Commander and was a member of US Africa Command Special Operations Component at the time of the making of this documentary.