Okello Kelo Sam was born in Uganda and abducted into a rebel army at age sixteen. He escaped and launched a career that spans music, dance and storytelling. He founded Mizizi Dance Ensemble, one of the country’s leading cultural performance groups providing artistic development for youth. In response to Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army, Okello created Hope North, a school where thousands of escaped child soldiers and desperately poor youth have found a place to call home. As a thought leader, Okello has been featured at Google Idea, Tribeca Film Festival, and was named a Conde Nast Traveler Visionary. Film roles include Abducted: War Child, by Robert Altman, Silent Army by Jean van de Velde (which premiered at Cannes Film Festival), and The Last King of Scotland, in which he taught Forest Whitaker traditional Ugandan dance.