New York, NY – BBC Worldwide North America is proud to present the worldwide theatrical premiere of WE COME AS FRIENDS from the internationally acclaimed documentarian Hubert Sauper (Darwin’s Nightmare), at the IFC Center in New York Friday, August 14. The film will open at the Laemmle Royal in Los Angeles and the AFI Silver Theater in Washington D.C. on August 21. It will continue to open across the nation with engagements in markets including Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, and more. Sauper will be participating in special appearances and Q&As in New York, Los Angeles, and Washington D.C.

WE COME AS FRIENDS is a modern odyssey – a dizzying, almost science fiction-like journey into the heart of Africa. At the moment when the Sudan, the continent’s biggest country, is being divided into two nations, an old “civilizing” ideology re-emerges – one of colonialism and  a clash of empires – with new episodes of bloody (and holy) wars over land and resources.  Academy Award® nominated director of Darwin’s Nightmare, Hubert Sauper, takes us on a voyage in his tiny, self-made aircraft constructed from tin and canvas, leading us into the most improbable locations and into people’s thoughts and dreams in both stunning and heartbreaking ways. Chinese oil workers, UN peacekeepers, Sudanese warlords, and American evangelists ironically weave common ground in this documentary.

“A SURREAL, MOVING, INFURIATING and PERSUASIVE argument that in South Sudan, there’s nothing ‘post’ about colonialism.”  – Manohla Dargis, New York Times

“PROVOCATIVE and UNAPOLOGETICALLY POLITICAL filmmaker Hubert Sauper returns to the kind of African situations that characterized his Oscar®-nominated Darwin’s Nightmare.” – Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times

WE COME AS FRIENDS (2014, 110 mins)

Written and Directed by Hubert Sauper.  Produced by Gabriele Kranzelbinder and Hubert Sauper. Cinematographers: Barney Broomfield and Hubert Sauper. Editor: Denise Vindevogal. Composer: Slim Twig. Sound department: Alexander Koller. Music Department: Malia. Sudan. In English/ French/ Chinese/ Dinka/Nuer/Bari/Zanda. Release by BBC Worldwide North America.

Press Contact:

Deborah Schonfeld / Deborah.Schonfeld@bbc.com / (212) 705-9498