Kinyarwanda

Rwanda, 2011, 100 Minute Running Time
Additional Countries: USA
Genre/Subjects: African-American, American Indie, Drama, Social Issues, Thriller, War
Program: Contemporary World Cinema
Language: Kinyarwanda/English English Subtitles

DIRECTOR: Alrick Brown
Producer: Darren Dean, Tommy Oliver, Alrick Brown
Editor: Tovah Leibowitz
Screenwriter: Alrick Brown
Cinematographer: Danny Vecchione
Principal Cast: Kennedy Mpazimpaka, Hassan Kabera, Abdallah Uwimana, Hadidja Zaninka
US Distributor: AFFRM

MUST END Thurs, Jan 22nd
Winner of the Starz People's Choice Award for Narrative Feature - SDFF34
35mm presentation - In the genocide that swept though Rwanda in 1994, the Hutu ethnic majority killed almost a million Tutsis—a bloody tragedy that was the subject of the 2004 Oscar nominee Hotel Rwanda. Director Alrick Brown, a native Jamaican who studied filmmaking at NYU, has a different take on Rwanda's agony. In his first dramatic feature, Brown weaves six stories of terror and survival into a tapestry of human courage: a soldier, a pair of young lovers, a child, a Tutsi/Hutu couple, a priest and an imam are all trying to reach the the Grand Mosque of Kigali, which became a refuge from the mass murder when the spiritual leader of Rwanda's Muslims issued a fatwa and opened the mosque's doors to all—Hutus, Tutsis, Muslims and Christians.

This little-known chapter in the history of that awful war provides Brown and his principal collaborator and cowriter, Rwandan filmmaker Ishmael Ntihabose, a rich opportunity to personalize it, and to show how some Tutsis and Hutus erased old boundaries of hatred to save each others' lives. The film, which takes its name from the common language spoken by both ethnic groups, also looks at the aftermath of the genocide, in which the former belligerents sought conciliation and forgiveness in a series of local court proceedings.

Brown's talented cast includes Cassandra Freeman, Edouard Bamporiki and Cleophas Kabasiita; the cinematographer is fellow NYU graduate Danny Vecchione, who captures the horror and the uplift in unforgettable images.
—BILL GALLO

Official Film Website