OFFICIAL SELECTION

“BLOODLINES: The Mogadishu Diaries 1992-1993” Written by Eddie Clay Tompkins III (UK)

BIO:

Eddie Thompkins III grew up in Hyde Park, on the south side of Chicago, Illinois in the mid1960s. In 2000 he retired from the United States Marine Corps and relocated to England. His father was the late Rev. Dr. Eddie Thompkins Jr, and his mother, Brenda, was an accountant for the city. Eddie has one son, Eddie IV, who enlisted in the U.S. Air Force. Eddie is an accomplished novelist having penned two No. 1 best sellers, The Seduction of Monet Dawson and its sequel The Crossover. The screenplay Bloodlines: The Mogadishu Diaries has won over 50 international film competitions to date and continues to generate buzz on the festival circuit.

“BLOODLINES: The Mogadishu Diaries 1992-1993” Written by Eddie Clay Tompkins III (UK)

LOGLINE: (Genre: Drama) Based on true events

A US Marine recalls his mission to track a Somali Warlord, wherein he is confronted with love, loss and peril, in the most dangerous city in the world.

SHORT SYNOPSIS:

Ten months before Blackhawk Down, US Marines launched its first major offensive against Mogadishu's militias. Top US military strategists for Operation Restore Hope recognized the critical importance of identifying Somali clan leaders responsible for the country’s instability and violence. It became apparent that one man needed to be captured in order to help establish order. This warlord eluded the most elite US Special Forces teams in our military for almost a year during Operation Restore Hope/Continued Hope.

STORY OUTLINE:

There are many theories that explain how Mohamed Farrah Aidid won the cat and mouse game. This is my account…Eddie Clay III’s book The Mogadishu Diaries: Bloodlines is a culturally sensitive and historically accurate account of one of the greatest humanitarian efforts in the 20th century: Operation Restore Hope. The memoir-based novel’s main character and first person narrator, Sergeant Thompson, gives the reader a succinct and insightful summary of the Somali situation before, during, and after his voluntary deployment to Somalia at the end of 1992 and the beginning of 1993. His story culminates in the 40-minute firefight during the US attack on the safe house of controversial warlord, Mohammed Farah Hassan Aidid on January 7, 1993. The incident was broadcasted around the world in form of pictures, videos, and news reports, which makes hearing the details from a first-hand source a real treat.

With an engaging style and suspenseful storyline, the author provides much more than faithfully recounting the events that unfolded in the January 7, 1993 night attack in Mogadishu, Somalia; he describes the emotions, thoughts, and doubts of a Marine caught in the crossfire of international political and military forces, including the fear, anger, the surge of adrenaline, and repeated self-evaluation only a warrior with crystal clear integrity would face. Whether familiar or unfamiliar with the events that resulted in the intervention of US-led Coalition Forces in Somalia, the reader will be thrilled to get the insider’s account about the beginning of a major political and military feat which started as a peace-keeping mission and ended up as a full-blown US military involvement for over four years, resulting in bloody battles that some sources compare to the Vietnam War.