[4][5] Its subject is the Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony, his alleged war crimes, and the movement to bring him to the International Criminal Court.

[15] In Gulu, Russell and the others interviewed and videotaped children who had to commute to the city every night to elude raids by the LRA on their home villages in Acholiland.

[17] In 2006, after the Washington D.C. screening of Russell and Poole's rough cut, the U.S. Congress approved discussion of the plight of the Acholi before the Congressional Human Rights Caucus.

[18] The 2006 Invisible Children: Rough Cut also won Russell, Bailey, and Poole the Pioneering Spirit Award at the 2007 Heartland Film Festival.

[23] On March 15, 2012, at the height of the Kony 2012 video's viral popularity, San Diego police detained a naked Russell for psychiatric evaluation after he had a public breakdown.

A statement by his family said the diagnosis was a "brief reactive psychosis, an acute state brought on by extreme exhaustion, stress and dehydration" as a result of the popularity of the campaign.