CANAL Rwanda hosted a screening of Notre-Dame-du-Nil at Canal Olympia to celebrate the newly released Kinyarwanda translation of Scholastique Mukasonga’s novel.

Originally planned for last week in honour of International Mother Language Day, the event took place on Monday, February 24, and featured engagement with the author right after the screening.

The film, originally released in 2019, sheds light on Rwanda in the early 1970s, providing a poignant backdrop to the tragic events that would unfold decades later.

The event was attended by dignitaries including representatives from the Ministry of Youth and Arts, ambassadors, and representatives from the French Ministry of Culture, reflecting the event’s cultural importance.

This screening is part of CANAL Rwanda’s commitment to promoting local languages, with the film also being made available in Kinyarwanda on Zacu TV, exclusively for CANAL subscribers.

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Sophie TCHATCHOUA, Managing Director of CANAL Rwanda, explained that the idea to bring the film "back to life” stemmed from knowing that the book was going to be translated, and believed it was important to bring the film to a wider audience.

"When I heard that the book was being translated into Kinyarwanda, I immediately thought, what can we do to make this even more impactful, screening the film at Canal Olympia was an opportunity to not only showcase the movie but also encourage people to read the book. Sometimes, films can inspire people to pick up a book, and this was a great chance to connect the two,” she said.

TCHATCHOUA also highlighted that CANAL co-produced the film, making the screening a natural fit for the platform’s cultural efforts, revealing that CANAL plans to expand access to the film which reinforces the commitment to showcasing local culture and languages.

"We are excited to announce that the film will be fully translated into Kinyarwanda and will be available on Zacu TV, a CANAL channel, starting in March,” she added.

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The author of Notre-Dame-du-Nil, Scholastique Mukasonga expressed deep gratitude and pride in seeing such a big turnout of people who came for the screening, adding that although Notre-Dame-du-Nil is a novel, it stems from personal experiences she found difficult to write as an autobiography.

"I’m very proud to be home, to be in Rwanda, I wrote the book under the mask of a novel to tell a story that wasn’t easy to express,” she explained.

Mukasonga also discussed the film adaptation, acknowledging that while some scenes closely mirror her experiences at Notre-Dame-du-Nil High School in 1973, a film can never capture every detail of the book.

"A film is always a bit frustrating because you can’t take over the whole book, however much the film has the director’s touch, this is still my story,” she added.

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Charles Kayigamba, a 72-year-old retiree, shared his personal experience with Notre-Dame-du-Nil, noting that the film resonated deeply with him as someone who lived through the events of 1973, adding that it was powerful to relive those memories through the film.

"When we started our first year of high school, we were all innocents, talking to each other without any divisions, based only on the parishes we came from,” he explained.

Kayigamba highlighted the film’s upcoming Kinyarwanda translation and its potential as an educational tool, likening it to the importance of the Kwibuka commemoration, which revisits Rwanda’s history.

One of the young people who attended the screening of Notre-Dame-du-Nil, Vanessa Irakoze, emphasised the movie&039;s importance as a lesson, adding that the film helped her understand what her parents and grandparents endured.

"It shows us where we came from and what our ancestors went through, this movie is like a souvenir for us, teaching us how to fight genocidal ideologies and ensuring they never happen again,” she stated.

The movie Notre-Dame-du-Nil will begin screening on Zacu TV starting March 8. The film, fully translated into Kinyarwanda, will be available exclusively to CANAL subscribers, offering a broader audience the opportunity to experience this powerful story and its historical significance.