The Rwandan seventh art
Rwandans, even in rural areas, are increasingly attracted to locally produced films shot in Kinyarwanda. Their previously popular Nigerian and Tanzanian competitors are losing viewers. Directors and actors are doing business even if the quality of the productions is not always up to par. The industry is now also attracting producer-directors. Among them is Théogène Bizimana, whose film Inzozi(Dreams) won the award in March 2012 as the best Rwandan film. According to Innocent Uwitonze, who is in charge of promoting cinema in Rwanda, these films are very popular in rural areas where most people speak only Kinyarwanda. Productions based on Rwandan culture, such as love, inter-family conflicts and Rwandan beliefs, seem to be the most popular. Rwandan cinema has seen the rise of young talented filmmakers in recent years, let's mention among them Alexandre Sibomana, Poupoune Sesonga, Ngoma Nyirinkwaya, Samuel Ishimwe Karemangingo, Marie-Clementine Dusabejambo, Jean-Luc Habyarimana... At the Berlin International Film Festival (2018 edition), a Rwandan film was screened for the first time: Imfura, directed by Samuel Ishimwe Karemangingo (born 1991), and awarded the Jury Prize. The same year, the Franco-Belgian-Rwandan co-production La Miséricorde de la jungle by Joël Karekezi was a great success, especially at the Toronto festival and at the international Francophone festival in Namur, where it was presented.
Internationally
The history of Rwanda and its genocide has given rise to numerous international works. Many of them are filmed on the basis of documents that are sometimes biased or incomplete, since they were written in the wake of the genocide and without always having the necessary historical knowledge. In this filmography, let's mention: 100 Days by Nick Hughes (2001), shot in the beautiful landscapes of Kibuye, the magnificent Hotel Rwanda by Terry George (2004), with Don Cheadle, Joaquin Phoenix, Nick Nolte, Sometimes in April by Raoul Peck (2004), the documentary Kill them all! (Rwanda: The Story of an Unimportant Genocide) (2004), Michael Caton-Jones' Shooting Dogs (2005), probably the film that most faithfully captures the atmosphere before and during the genocide, Shake Hands with the Devil (2006), Robert Favreau's A Sunday in Kigali (2006), Alain Tasma's Operation Turquoise (2007), Philippe Van Leeuw's The Day God Left on a Journey (2010), and Sonia Van Leeuw's documentary Rwanda: from Chaos to Miracle, by Sonia Rolland, co-written with Jean-Christophe Siriac (2014). Most recently, we note the work Petit pays (2020), an adaptation of Gaël Faye's novel by Éric Barbier, entirely shot in Rwanda.
