Another Excellent Film to Support & Put on Your Radar, "KINYARWANDA"

If you missed this year’s Bronze Lens Film Festival in Atlanta, GA then you missed out on a plethora of goodies. One in particular was the film that won Best International Film KINYARWANDA, directed by Alrick Brown (Rwanda/USA). 

AFFRM, the African-American Film Festival Releasing Movement, is pleased to announce that it will open its second film, KINYARWANDA, in theaters on Friday, December 2 in eight cities nationwide. 

During the Rwandan genocide, when neighbors killed neighbors and friends betrayed friends, some crossed lines of hatred to protect each other.

At the time of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, 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. As the country became a slaughterhouse, mosques became places of refuge where Muslims and Christians, Hutus and Tutsis came together to protect each other. KINYARWANDA is based on true accounts from survivors who took refuge at the Grand Mosque of Kigali and the madrassa of Nyanza. It recounts how the Imams opened the doors of the mosques to give refuge to the Tutsi and those Hutu who refused to participate in the killing.

KINYARWANDA interweaves six different tales that together form one grand narrative that provides the most complex and real depiction yet presented of human resilience and life during the genocide. With an amalgamation of characters, we pay homage to many, using the voices of a few.

Writer/director Alrick Brown’s compelling feature directorial debut garnered the Sundance Film Festival 2011 Audience Award in the World Cinema Drama category this year, and captured the Grand Prize at the lauded Skip City Film Festival in Japan last week.

KINYARWANDA definitely needs your support once it hits the mainstream theaters. Just like there was a huge success with AFFRM’s inaugural release the award-winning film, I WILL FOLLOW, (which opened March 2011 in more than 20 cities during its seven week run.) The same energy and some needs to go into this film as well!!

If you don’t believe me check out the trailer…

KINYARWANDA will be released in AFFRM’s founding markets: New York (AMC Empire 25), Los Angeles (LAEMMLE Music Hall), Atlanta (AMC Phipps Plaza), Philadelphia (AMC Franklin Mills) and Seattle (Uptown Theater).  In addition, three new opening week cities have been added: Chicago (AMC River East), Washington DC (AMC Hoffman) and San Francisco.

"KINYARWANDA brings the victims and killers together as they seek to find a place of forgiveness in their hearts so that their country can survive and move forward.  This film, although dealing with an intense subject, is not graphic with violence, but full of emotional depth and hope as a country seeks to heal."

To find out more about this engaging and mesmerizing film please check out the website at http://www.kinyarwandamovie.com/ . You will not be disappointed at all!!