Kony 2012 makers release new video and campaign
After losing momentum following an embarrassing public incident, Invisible Children group refocuses attention on guerilla leader
The San Diego-based group Invisible Children is attempting to recapture lost momentum in its quest to promote the capture of African warlord Joseph Kony six months after one of the group's leaders had a public meltdown.
In March, Jason Russell, the creative director of a video that captivated tens of millions of viewers with its plea for Kony's capture, was seen running naked through the streets of San Diego, talking gibberish, all caught on cellphone video by a bystander.
Invisible Children is trying to refocus public attention on bringing down the messianic Kony and his Lord's Resistance Army with a new 30-minute video, Move, which was posted on YouTube on Sunday night. Among other things, it examines the phenomenon of the original video and Russell's breakdown.
Invisible Children plans a November 17 rally in Washington to lobby the White House and leaders in Africa and Europe to redouble efforts to catch Kony, who fled Uganda in 2006 and is believed to be hiding in central Africa.
For nearly a decade, University of Southern California film school graduate Russell has been obsessed with alerting the world to Kony and his atrocities. In 2004, he and two college friends founded Invisible Children and set out to harness the power of the internet to stir public outrage.
But when his 11th video, Kony 2012, was posted in March, he was not prepared for so much attention - and criticism - from the mass media and the public. Always intense, he cracked under the pressure.
"My mind betrayed me," he said last week, after running around naked near his home