Remnants, a Rwandan fiction film exploring memory, family and the responsibility of carrying the past into the next generation, will premiere in Kigali at the All African Independent Film Festival on October 15 at the French Institute.
The 25-minute film follows Lilly, a girl born after the Genocide against the Tutsi who has never met her grandfather and has only one damaged photograph of him. She takes the photograph to Emmanuel, a photographer and photo restorer, hoping he can restore the face of the man she never knew.
What Lilly does not know is that Emmanuel knew her grandfather, Enock, and carries a painful, unresolved history of his own dating back to 1994.
Director Zion Sulaiman describes Remnants as a "deeply human story about memory, silence, guilt and the photographs that carry what people cannot.”
The film centres on Emmanuel, a haunted Rwandan photographer who has spent decades restoring damaged photographs while secretly searching for the face of his missing mother, who disappeared during the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi.
His life takes an unexpected turn when Lilly brings him the only photograph she has of her grandfather. Her request appears simple: restore the damaged image so she can finally see the face of the man she never knew.
But Emmanuel knows Enock — and the photograph forces him to confront a past he has spent decades trying to escape.
As he works to restore the image, buried memories resurface, bringing Emmanuel face to face with questions of guilt, loss and responsibility.
"Remnants is a story about memory, guilt, silence and what remains when the people we love are gone,” Sulaiman said.
"For us, the film is really about a generation born after the Genocide trying to understand the people and memories they inherited, and about what happens when history survives in photographs even when people don't.”
The Kigali premiere will mark the film’s first public screening in Rwanda. The production team is also preparing Remnants for the international festival and awards circuit.
"We’re shaping it for the international festival and awards circuit,” Sulaiman said
The creative team behind the film
Written & Directed by: Zion Sulaiman
Production: Zion Films Company Ltd.
Creative Guidance: Scott Hillier —Paris | Alex Zhort—USA
Language: Kinyarwanda / English
Subtitles: English