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“THE REDEMPTION OF GENERAL BUTT NAKED” | directors, Eric Strauss & Daniele Anastasion
[PREMIERE SCREENING: Saturday, Jan. 22, 9:00 pm — Temple Theatre]
Neither of us was prepared for how much we would genuinely like Joshua Milton Blahyi. The fact that a human being can be warm, funny and endearing, yet also responsible for the deaths of thousands, is something that’s very difficult to reconcile.
For five years we documented Joshua’s life and struggles. During this time we got to know him on a very personal level, not just as filmmakers, but as human beings. Navigating this relationship between filmmaker and character, and trying to stay objective throughout, can be extremely tricky. There were days when we were completely seduced by Joshua’s charisma as well as days when we were equally horrified by his past.
Though the process of making this film was never easy, we were both surprised at how emotionally challenging interacting with Joshua was for us. It tested our own capacity for forgiveness and belief in personal reinvention, and those are the very human issues we tried to frame in our film.
