Rwandan Director Breaks Genocide Myths in Oscar Entry — SkimNews
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- Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo directed Ben'Imana, Rwanda's first ever Oscar submission, after the film became the first Rwandan feature accepted into Cannes' official selection, where she won the Camera d'Or
- Ben'Imana is set in 2012, 18 years after the genocide against the Tutsi, and unfolds in a Rwandan village where survivors and perpetrators grapple with reconciliation
- Dusabejambo, who was seven during the genocide, turned to cinema after studying mathematics and physics and conceived the idea for Ben'Imana after her second short film in 2013
- The director said she aimed to break myths and preconceptions about the genocide, refusing to portray characters as stereotypes of 'victim and perpetrator' and instead focusing on turning lives around to 'create a future'
- Dusabejambo praised her mostly non-professional cast and crew, noting the film was '100% made by Rwandans' and that fictional elements often met reality because everyone involved was personally connected to the story
Why it matters: Ben'Imana is Rwanda's first Oscar submission ever and was made entirely by Rwandans with personal ties to the genocide it depicts — Dusabejambo's deliberate framing of reconciliation over victim-and-perpetrator binaries gives the Academy a nationally-financed entry rather than an externally-produced story about Rwanda.
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