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!!
