KINYARWANDA
In case you missed it. Kinyarwanda was the winner of the 2011 Sundance Audience Award. The film explores fresh perspectives on the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
Winner of the 2011 Sundance Audience Award for most popular international drama, Kinyarwanda offers a new perspective on the 1994 Rwandan genocide. As the conflict between the Hutu and the Tutsi intensified, the Mufti of Rwanda, the most respected Muslim leader in the country, issued a fatwa forbidding Muslims from participating in the killing of the Tutsi. In the city of Kigali, the imams opened the doors of the Grand Mosque to those fleeing the conflict, making it a place of refuge for both Muslims and Christians, Hutus and Tutsis. Weaving together six narratives based on the accounts of survivors who sought safety in the Grand Mosque, Kinyarwanda deepens and broadens our understanding of those terrifying events. Born in Jamaica and trained at New York University, director Alrick Brown brings an African diasporic perspective to Rwanda’s recent history, adding important new layers to the growing body of films on the subject.