Contact: Craig McDonald, Christian Freedom International, 906-253-2336

SAULT STE. MARIE, Mich., Oct. 6 /Christian Newswire/ -- Christian Freedom International (CFI), a Michigan-based organization that assists persecuted Christians around the world, has announced the release of "Banned in Burma," a DVD documentary that depicts the violent reality of Burma's ongoing civil war.

The "Banned in Burma" film features a visit to the war-torn region by Bluetree, an Irish Christian rock band whose popularity in the U.S. skyrocketed with the release of their hit song, "God of this City." Bluetree became outspoken supporters of CFI and their mission to the persecuted church after visiting the organization's "Crisis in Burma" tent exhibition at the Big Ticket festival in Gaylord, Michigan last summer. Overcome by the magnitude of Burma's humanitarian crisis that has claimed the lives of thousands and displaced thousands more over the past six decades, the members of Bluetree were compelled to witness the devastation for themselves, despite the risk of entering such a restricted nation.

The band was accompanied into the war-torn region in February by CFI president Jim Jacobson, who has personally made countless trips into Burma over the past 10 years to help deliver Bibles and humanitarian supplies to suffering ethnic Christians. Jacobson and the band bribed Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) soldiers with food and whiskey in exchange for access to a refugee camp, but it was the real threat of capture and execution by the Burmese army that reminded the men of how just how dangerous life is in Burma for Westerners, and Christians in particular.

By the end of the trip, however, the band had performed for over 15,000 Karen refugees at the Mae La refugee camp in Thailand, as well as an audience at CFI's Vocational School and a local church in Mae Sot.

CFI operates a number of schools, medical clinics and orphanages in Burma and Thailand for persecuted ethnic Christians who suffer under genocidal persecution at the hands of Burma's military government, and urges the international community to denounce the junta's widespread human rights abuses against its own citizens. "Banned in Burma" is CFI's latest project to highlight a conflict that has become the longest-running civil war in human history.

To watch a trailer of "Banned in Burma" or to order a copy, visit www.christianfreedom.org.