“We’re trying to raise awareness about the fact that there has been a genocide going on in Darfur for five years. It doesn’t get a lot of attention in the media and we’re trying to educate people about what is going on,” said Devora Schwartz-Waxman, Hillel’s tzedek and social action director, who is organizing the April 28 screening at the Sheppard Grande movie theatre in partnership with UJA Federation’s Impact Toronto.

Since 2003, up to 400,000 people have been murdered at the hands of the pro-government Arab militia called the Janjaweed, that has attempted to exert control over a country divided by religious and ethnic backgrounds.

About 2.5 million have been displaced into refugee camps where the threat of starvation and disease are constant.

She said that although there are many in the campus community who are aware of the conflict in Darfur, there are many who don’t have a basic understanding of the extent to which the people are suffering.

“They don’t know what they can do, how they can help, they don’t know the history or the background. That is who we’re targeting,” she said, adding that they have been working with Students Taking Action Now: Darfur (STAND), on Toronto area campuses to spread the word.

She hopes that the screening of Darfur Now, produced by Academy Award nominated actor Don Cheadle, will help expose students to the conflict and push them into action.

The film features six stories told by individuals who are working to bring an end to the conflict in Darfur.

Cheadle is one of the individuals featured in the film. He first learned about the conflict while working on a film Hotel Rwanda, that dramatized the Rwandan genocide in 1994. With his friend and fellow actor George Clooney, the documentary shows how Cheadle uses his celebrity to bring attention to the conflict and to pressure the international community to act.

Hejewa Adam, another of the six individuals featured in Darfur Now, shares her experience when her village was destroyed by Janjaweed militias. Her three-month-old son was beaten to death, and this devastating experience led to her decision to join the rebels in an effort to bring peace back to Sudan.

A 24-year-old American student named Adam Sterling, who is the executive director of the Sudan Divestment Task Force, an organization that provides support to those involved in targeting Sudan divestment campaigns around the world, is another subject profiled in the film.

Sterling, the grandson of a Holocaust survivors, managed to get California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to sign a bill he drew that will keep state funds out of Sudan.

Schwartz-Waxman, who is expecting about 350 people at the event, said Sterling will introduce the film and will also answer question after the screening.

She said this will give students the opportunity to learn about the ways that they can make a difference and advocate for peace in Darfur.

“People may have heard about Darfur… but don’t know much about it and that’s who we’re trying to reach out to; people who are concerned about it and have heard about it, but don’t know what to do,” Schwartz-Waxman said.

“We’re reaching out to the people who are aware so they can reach out to those who aren’t aware.”