Renowned Rwandan filmmaker Eric Kabera has won a Lifetime Achievement Award at Afrika Film Festival in Leuven, Belgium, for the body of work he produced on the Genocide against the Tutsi over the past 30 years , as well as training the young generation of story tellers of Rwanda. Kabera, also founder of Kwetu films, becomes the first Rwandan film maker to win a lifetime achievement award, thanks to some of his biggest cinema works like 'Intore', The Woman in Me, 100 Days and many others. ALSO READ: Tracking Rwanda’s movie industry progress through the eyes of pioneer filmmaker Kabera Speaking to The New Times, Kabera said that Leuven is a highly academic place of Europe and being recognized by its film festival is an honor. “I am humbled by the recognition coming from Leuven which is a highly academic place here in Europe. The African film festival has been showing films from Africa and the ones I have produced for the past 29 years. This is a dedication to the memory recording we did over the past 30 years and a dedication to the next generation of storytellers from Rwanda and Africa in general,” said the film maker. Afrika Film Festival has long become a fixture in the film landscape that showcases African film culture with screenings all over Belgium and numerous side events. By promoting African films, the festival also contributes to the development of the audiovisual sector in Africa Kabera is the brains behind Kwetu Film Institute which is the leading film and television school in Rwanda that collaborates with established organisations such as the Sundance Film Festival, the Academy of Motion Picture and Sciences, the Shoah Foundations, and the Pan African Film Festival, among others. Kwetu and the Rwanda Cinema Centre have produced more than 50 films— shorts, documentaries, and feature films—for the past 20 years.
