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In Rwanda We Say...
The Family That Does Not Speak Dies
(54 minutes) Rwanda/USA
D irector: Anne Aghion
Producers: Laurent Bocahut and Anne Aghion
Description:
In 2003, the Rwanda government released some 16,000 confessed participants
in the 1994 genocide, and sent them home. Award-winning documentarian
Anne Aghion goes to Gafumba, a tiny hillside community in rural Rwanda,
to see how people are coping with this. With stops at the local school
and bars—called cabarets—the film In Rwanda We Say…The
Family That Does Not Speak Dies focuses on the return of a freed prisoner,
Abraham Rwamfizi, and the impact of his homecoming on neighbors, survivors
and even in-laws who blame him for the murder of their families. While
the government’s message of a “united Rwandan family”
permeates the language of the community, the imposed co-existence brings
forth varying emotions, from numb acceptance to repressed rage. Violence
seems to lurk just below the surface. What unfolds, however, is astonishing.
Little by little, people begin to talk in a profound, articulate way -
first to the camera, and then to each other - as these neighbors negotiate
the emotional task of accepting life side by side.
Biography:
For most of her life, Aghion has been a dual resident of New York and
Paris. She spent the first eight years of her career in the newspaper
business, in both editorial and administrative capacities at The New York
Times Paris bureau, and at the International Herald Tribune. Moving into
the film/television industry, she worked in a variety of capacities including
videographer, production and post-production manager with filmmakers such
as Richard Leacock and Valérie Lalonde, and for documentaries aired
on major cable networks such as Canal+ and ARTE. In addition, Aghion was
the Director of International Production and Development for Pixibox,
Europe’s top digital animation house. She holds a degree in Arab
Language and Literature from Barnard College at Columbia University in
New York, and following her studies, spent two years living in Cairo.
Anne Aghion is a filmmaker who has spent considerable time in Rwanda,
charting the progress and impact of the ethnic reconciliation programs
there. In Rwanda We Say…The Family That Does Not Speak Dies is Aghion’s
third film, and her second film on Rwanda. Aghion’s influential
2002 film Gacaca, Living Together Again in Rwanda? received the Fellini
Prize from UNESCO. Her first film, Se Le Movio El Piso (The Earth Moved
Under Him) -- A Portrait Of Managua, is the winner of the Havana Film
Festival’s 1996 Coral Award for Best Non-Latin American Documentary
on Latin America.
Contact Information:
First Run/Icarus Films
32 Court Street, 21st Floor
Brooklyn, NY 11201
E-mail: mailroom@frif.com
URL: http://www.frif.com
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