Actress Uma Thurman is photographed at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in New York. The actress will star in a film based on Ottawa writer Kathy Cook's non-fiction book Stolen Angels about Ugandan schoolgirls abducted by the Lord's Resistance Army.JIM COOPER
Actress Uma Thurman will star in a film inspired by Canadian journalist Kathy Cook's non-fiction book, Stolen Angels.
Caspian Pictures in Burbank, Calif., says Thurman has been cast as Sister Caroline, the protagonist of the film Girl Soldier. Her character helps rescue dozens of kidnapped Ugandan schoolgirls.
"This is a film that had to get made," Thurman told Variety. "It's beyond me that in this day and age the exploitation of child soldiers goes virtually unnoticed and unchecked by Western media."
Filming is set to begin early next year in South Africa. Co-stars include Souleymane Sy Savane.
Cook's book documents the abduction of 30 Ugandan schoolgirls by a rebel leader in October 1996. The kidnapped girls were forced to become sex slaves and soldiers.
Caspian Pictures says Cook, who hails from Ottawa, is a consultant on the film.