The eagerly awaited film, The 600, was premiered in Kigali on Wednesday in a function attended by President Paul Kagame, who was the commander in chief of RPA, the First Lady, and different high ranking officials. The film tells in detailed account, the events in Kigali during the 100 days of the Genocide against the Tutsi and the role of 600 Rwanda Patriotic Army (RPA) soldiers who were stationed in Kigali, in stopping the massacres. The documentary gives a firsthand account by RPA soldiers that were among the battalion of 600 troops that came to Kigali to make peace, only for events to take a different turn, when the government of the day started killing people in the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi. The 117 minutes film documents several specific stories that were documented and corroborated by both the soldiers and the people that they rescued, the role of some Rwandan artistes, as well as Radio Muhabura, created by the RPF during the liberation struggle 1990 and 1994. It also shows the sacrifices and resilience of The 600 despite some of them losing their families to the Genocide, the role of a machine gun at the rooftop of Rwanda’s parliamentary building, handled by Maj. (Rtd) Rwabinumi and the different challenges faced by the battalion that was by far outnumbered by the Genocidal forces. The film was made by Great Blue Productions owned by Richard Hall, who is also the Executive Producer and A-WIZE MEDIA run by Anette Uwizeye his co-producer. It is documented in English and Kinyarwanda, with English subtitles. Hall revealed that the idea of making film came after he visited the Campaign Against the Genocide museum situated at the Parliament Building during his first time in Rwanda, which led to making of the documentary 18 months later. 40 Rwandans worked directly on the film, while 50 per cent of the interviews are of civilians who were rescued and 50 per cent are RPA veterans, mostly those who were trapped behind enemy lines at parliament. The film will start being aired to the public on Friday July 5 at Century Cinema at Kigali City Tower. editor@newtimesrwanda.com
