In Development · Feature Film
Witness 26
Based on true events: a former child soldier becomes the key witness in the first trial of the International Criminal Court — and must face what she carries with her.
- Director
- Writer
Synopsis
Witness 26 is Michele Gentile's feature film debut as director and author, based on true events surrounding the first trial before the International Criminal Court in The Hague, against Thomas Lubanga Dyilo.
Malia was abducted as a child, forced to fight and used as a sex slave. Years later she is asked to testify as Witness 26 — the account that could decide the case. Between preparation rooms, court corridors and the memories she has never spoken aloud, she has to decide whether to say out loud what was done to her.
A creature only Malia can see follows her through the film: a manifestation of trauma and shame that grows stronger the closer she comes to the witness stand. Around her stand the prosecutor, her lawyer and the people who prepare her for a courtroom that was never designed for what she has to say.
The film is a supernatural-tinged courtroom drama about testimony as an act of survival — about what justice asks of the people it depends on. A full director's statement and treatment are available on request.