Léopold Gasigwa, a filmmaker, shares a story of a group of young boys who were buried alive during the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi. When they were burying them, those innocent children were saying 'you are spoiling our eyes' because they couldn't think the killers were doing something bad to them,” narrates Gasigwa. Such events, among many other agonising events that happened during the Genocide, are what inspired him to produce the film ‘Urantokoza,’ specifically drawing this name from those children’s misfortune. “I was very touched by the story of those children; they were living in the former Commune Musambira where killers buried 85 male children alive in a pitch.” Urantokoza-a documentary film, which among other things, highlight the lives of children during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, was premiered at Century Cinemas Kigali on November 4. Written and directed by Gasigwa, the film entails testimonies of different people: Genocide survivors, perpetrators, and the then RPA Inkotanyi, physchiatrists, teachers, among others. Gasigwa collected testimonies from a Genocide perpetrator who is currently in Muhanga prison and was a leader of former 'Commune Nyamabuye'. In the film, the man narrates about the role played by the then leadership in Genocide. The film also entails a woman who opted to poison her children as requested by Interahamwe militia, saying she had to do so if she didn't want them to be slaughtered terribly. Gasigwa and his team also travelled to Shori in Muhanga District and conversed with survivors whose children were killed during the Genocide. He also went in Gisagara district where a survivor gave a testimony about how Interahamwe militia raped her and killed her baby, and how she was forced to marry one of them. Urantokoza also features a survivor who was a child during the Genocide in Musha, Rwamagana District. He narrates his story and how the RPA Inkotanyi soldiers saved him like many other survivors. One of the former teachers, featured in the film, tackles how it was hard to teach children at the end of the Genocide due to the suffering they had ensured, adding that the goal of education then was to make them human first before focusing on academics. The featured testimonials narrate how survivors have overcome the past and geared up for development. They urge the young generation to avoid divisionism and hatred, hence striving for ‘never again.’ According to Gasigwa, the film has its own philosophy: The Genocide perpetrated against Tutsis in 1994 and the liberation struggle performed by RPF to stop it, are both true to life and fact of Rwandan history. Gasigwa started working on the film in 2018 and set it in 2019, although the initial screening plan was hindered by the Covid-19 pandemic. He disclosed that he is set to make final adjustments, he will then take the film to intentional festivals and have it screened at different places across Rwanda, including schools and universities, for young people to learn the history and draw lessons from it hence striving for ‘never again.’ Assoumpta Muhayese, who represented the Ministry of National Unity and Civic Engagement (MINUBUMWE), thanked Gasigwa and encouraged him to keep the good work as Urantokoza aligns with the ministry's goal of preserving history concerning Genocide. She noted that the ministry will keep supporting him, adding that the movie will help in telling today's youth and generations to come, the truth about Genocide.
