Preps for Rwanda film festival in high gear

What began as an idea in 2005, has today transformed into a Rwandan tradition. The Rwanda Film Festival, code-named “Hillywood” from the country’s “land of a thousand hills” brand, is a roaming festival. This festival is the brainchild of a well known Rwanda film producer, Eric Kabera. The week-long event brings together various film projects from the continent and beyond. Taking place from July12 -18, the festival will feature seven days of film screened at locations around the city and around the country. In honour of the 20th commemoration of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, and the 10th anniversary of the festival, this year’s theme is “Reflection”. The festival organisers are looking to explore the theme of reflection in its many facets. “The understanding of the word reflection is very vast. Nothing can help us approach this in a better way than creative thinking, art and in this case, cinema,” Kabera says. This year’s event will put together a selection of films that will look at historical and contemporary issues from around the world and Africa in particular, with a unique retrospective on Rwanda. Still in the selection process, the organisers are choosing films fitting a number of criteria, including world cultures, young people on the move, and retrospectives on Rwanda. The festival will include both short and feature length films. To encourage and honour the achievements of local filmmakers and to encourage the growth of the local industry, the festival will recognise two outstanding local filmmakers. The winner will win an air ticket to any Turkish Airlines destination, along with $250 cash, while the first runner-up will receive only an air ticket. Last year’s festival theme, “Our Mothers, Our Heroes”, focused on the role of women both in front of and behind the camera. It included films such as Mama Africa, War Witch, Daughters of the Niger Delta, and many others.

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Preps for Rwanda film festival in high gear