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A former child soldier in Uganda wins a world title in boxing in the US and returns home to confront his demons in a haunting new documentary called Kassim the Dream. At age six Kassim Ouma is kidnapped by rebel forces from his boarding school in Northern Uganda and forced to fight in a war against the government – forced to kill people or be killed. He takes up boxing to escape the trauma and when his military boxing team visits the US, he defects. Overcoming homeless, a language barrier, and the trauma of his past, Kassim trains hard, and goes on to win the World Junior middle-weight championship. In Kassim The Dream, film maker Kief Davidson paints an intimate portrait of a young man who has lost his childhood innocence, and who desperately tries to recover it through pursuing sports, loving his family, and rediscovering his roots. The documentary has won more than half a dozen awards and been nominated for more. It now hits theaters this Friday.

GUEST: Kief Davidson, film maker of Kassim The Dream, whose previous credits include “The Devil’s Miner.”

The film opens at the Laemmle Town Center 5, 17200 Ventura Blvd, Encino, at 5:30 and 7:40 pm daily.

Find out more at www.kassimthedream.com.