Pray the Devil Back to Hell Premieres in Liberia
The International Colloquium on Women's Empowerment, Leadership Development, International Peace and Security took place on March 7th and 8th, in accordance with International Women's Day. It was co-convened by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and President Tarja Hanlonen of Finland.

The Colloquium also served as a platform for Pray the Devil Back to Hell to premiere in Liberia on March 9th. The Liberian women featured in the film and hundreds more who participated in the Mass Action Campaign for Peace were honored, having their courage and leadership recognized by women from across the globe.

Note from Producer Abigail Disney on Liberian Premiere:

"Monday night, under a bright, full moon, and before a crowd of several hundred women from the Liberian women’s peace movement, Pray the Devil Back to Hell played on the 'JUMBOTRON' of the newly restored Samuel K Doe stadium.  It was a historic moment, and emotional for everyone there.  SKD, after all, was a refugee camp (pictured in the film) only a short time ago.

Now newly restored by the Chinese, the stadium evoked some hard memories for many in the audience as they settled into chairs on the soccer field to watch our film.  Sometimes there was laughter, sometimes tears—but mostly you could feel the crowd hold its breath as onscreen unfolded this tribute to the resilience, creativity, integrity and grit of the Liberian women’s movement.

As the film wound to a close, women hugged each other and launched into song, dances and whoops of delight.  Some women still wiped tears from their eyes, remembering those they’d lost, and moments that brought them so low not so very long ago, but often these tears were followed quickly by a smile and a joke.  Once again I felt so moved and inspired by these women and the incredible capacity they have to make a community out of every gathering, and to mine the best in every situation.

President Sirleaf attended the screening, which had been scheduled as a special event to wrap up the four day International Women’s Colloquium, and her concluding words brought the appreciative crowd to its feet.  It was a moment of warmth and unity and for Gini [Reticker, director of the film] and I, as filmmakers, a proud, proud day we won’t soon forget."