Rwanda’s mountainous landscapes have been featured in a number of high-profile films such as King Solomon’s Mines and Gorillas in the Mist. But, writes Daddy Youssouf Ruhorahoza—with additional reporting by Ogova Ondego—the Central African nation of eight million people had benefited little from such Hollywood exposure.

Since the genocide of 1994 that almost obliterated the nation of 1000 hills from the face of the earth, Rwanda has become the subject of numerous documentaries and drama-documentaries.

The first film to focus on the conflict that claimed close to a million lives in under four months was 100 Days, a feature created by Nick Hughes, a Nairobi-based British news cameraman who had covered the Rwandan horrors for BBC, CNN and other western media , and Eric Kabera, a Rwandan producer. The two first teamed up in 1996 and the result was 100 Days (2002), a story of love and brutality in which two Tutsi families try to survive the violent hatred of their Hutu neighbours. When young Josette’s boyfriend comes back from the battle, he finds her pregnant by a Hutu priest who had saved her by obliging her to become his concubine. 100 Days was described by Variety magazine as “docu-drama at its finest” and screened at more than 40 international film festivals.

Hughes and Kabera’s collaboration paved the way for a series of projects shot in Rwanda in 2003-04, as other filmmakers sought to explore the genocide. The most notable of these are Sometimes in April, by Haitian filmmaker Raoul Peck, Hotel Rwanda, by Irish writer-director Terry George, and Shooting Dogs, from Scandal and Rob Roy director Michael Caton-Jones. Eric Kabera’s documentary, Keepers of Memory, was shot in 2003 and screened around the world in 2004 to mark the tenth anniversary of the genocide.

At the 2004 Toronto International Film Festival it was screened alongside Hotel Rwanda (which took Toronto’s audience award) and Canadian Peter Ramont’s Shake Hands with the Devil: The Journey of Romeo Dallaire. Kabera also produced in 2004 Through My Eyes, another feature documentary that looks at Rwandan youth in the aftermath of the genocide, Through My Eyes, an expression of the youth of Rwanda to overcome their darkest history. A reflection through art, music, dance in a prospect of a better future, this film was directed by Kenyan editor Kavila Matu.

Other local projects concerned with the genocide are A Sunday at the Pool in Kigali, adapted from Gil Courtemanche’s novel of the same name, to be made by Montreal-based Lyla Films, with Lyse Lafontaine as producer and Jacques Favreau as director, and The Last Dog in Rwanda (in pre-production at press time), a short comedy written and directed by Sweden’s Jens Assur.

Rwanda currently has no cinema circuits to serve a population of 8.1 million. The only screening halls are in the French Cultural Centre and the National University of Rwanda amphitheatre. However, there are various video clubs in Kigali and other small cities, including Cine Elmay, Club Rafiki and Planet Cinema. Recently, Eric Kabera established the Rwanda Cinema Centre (RCC), a coalition of professionals, community-based organisations and private sector companies involved in the development and promotion of cinematography. RCC has embarked on a project entitled Screen Rwanda, which aims to promote a film-going culture and generate interest in the movie industry among the country’s young people by presenting to them films to which they can easily relate .

At present, however, most of the films currently available in the video clubs and attracting young audiences are Hollywood productions. RCC has set out to share its vision with local communities, policy-makers and various organisations, in the hope of implementing a structure that will promote local talents in Rwanda and around the world. Kabera says he founded Rwanda Cinema Centre to empower young filmmakers with skills with which to become accomplished storytellers. “It was always western media like CNN, BBC and CBS who used to record here. I hope RCC will break this cycle as Rwandans tell their own stories.

He challenges African filmmakers to address issues with honesty. “Adopting ideas like ‘reconciliation’ and ‘forgiveness’ as employed in South African and Rwandan films is mere ‘social and political compromise’,” he says. Kabera, who says he lost more than 30 members of his family to Genocide, says human suffering should never be glamorised the way Hollywood does. “I made Keepers of Memory to steer clear of this stereotype,” he says. He is outraged that some experts had advised him to have a white North American as the heroin 100 Days in order for the film to succeed.

During the 9th edition of the Southern African International Film & Television Market (Sithengi) In Cape Town, Kabera announced that the South African Film Resource Unit and South African Broadcasting Corporation, together with Zimbabwean Media Development Trust had shown great interest in 100 Days and Keepers of memory.

Speaking at Sithengi on Truth and Reconciliation, Kabera said ‘political compromise cannot be synonymous with forgiveness’. “Filmmakers must confront reality, posing questions where necessary,” he said, adding that he had not seen any South African film depicting the nations that supported Apartheid in South Africa. “Filmmakers should avoid engaging in escapism,” Kabera observed as he grappled with the issue of what filmmaking format is best in conveying messages in Africa: features or documentaries? He says Africans may “make feel-good-films for a living but also make thought-provoking ones.” Kabera is making a film tentatively called “People under fire” in Goma, Congo-Kinshasa, an area he says has literally been under political and volcanic eruption fires that have adversely affected the lives of people. Recent and Forthcoming films

100 DAYS [Drama, 2002] Script, Dir and Phot: Nick Hughes. Players: Cleophas Kabasita, Davis Kagenza, Mazimpaka Kennedy, Davis Kwizera, David Mulwa. Prod: Hughes, Eric Kabera, Vivid Features Production. SOMETIMES IN APRIL [Drama, 2004] Script and Dir: Raoul Peck. Players: Idriss Elba, Oris Erhuero, Debra Winger. Prod: Peck, Cinefacto/HBO. The story of two Hutu brothers. One is in jail for war crimes and the other struggled during the war to save his Tutsi wife

HOTEL RWANDA [Drama, 2004] Script: Keir Pearson and Terry George. Dir: Terry George. Phot: Robert Fraisse. Players: Don Cheadle, Desmond Dube, Mothusi Megano, Nick Nolte, Sophie Okonedo. Prod: George, Alex Ho, Miracle Pictures/ Seamus Prods/ United Artists. The true-life story of Paul Rusesabagina (Cheadle), manager of the Hotel Milles Collines in Kigali, who housed more than 1,000 Tutsi refugees during their struggle against the Hutu militia.

SHOOTING DOGS [Drama, 2005] Script: David Wolstencroft. Dir: Michael Caton-Jones. Players: John Hurt, Hugh Dancy. Prod: David Belton, Pippa Cross, CrossDay Productions/Renaissance/BBC Films/UK Film Council. Based on a true story. An exhausted Catholic priest (Hurt) and an idealistic young English teacher (Dancy) find themselves caught up in the 1994 Rwandan genocide. They must choose whether to stay with the thousands of Tutsis about to be massacred or flee to safety.

A SUNDAY AT THE POOL IN KIGALI [Drama, 2005] Dir: Jaques Favreau. Prod: Lyse Lafontaine, Lyla Films Inc (Canada). Based on the true story of a Canadian journalist who tries to set up a TV station in Rwanda and falls in love with a waitress at a local hotel. It attacks western indifference to advance warnings of the impending genocide.

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