Eleneus Akanga
28 March 2006
Kigali — President Paul Kagame has called on film directors and other stakeholders in the film industry to consider telling both stories regarding what happened during the Genocide as well as the steps that the country has taken towards development after the 1994 calamity.
The President, who was addressing a Press Conference, about the newly released genocide film 'Shooting Dogs' at his office in Urugwiro Tuesday March, 28 also urged the filmmakers to highlight the unity and reconciliation process in the country.
"These films, much as they illustrate what took place here in 1994, should be able to depict this country's current trend of events regarding unity, reconciliation and the systematic development path being trodden," Kagame told the press.
He added: "This will act as a reminder to those who have not yet come here to realize that after our bad history, we have managed to put ourselves back on track for sustainable development."
Shot in Rwanda and starring British actors John Hurt and Hugh Dancy, the film depicts the story of a Roman Catholic Priest and a teacher caught up in the 100 day Genocide that started after the then President Juvenal Habyarimana died in a plane crash.
The President also hinted on the widely believed consensus that there was a lax in the actions of the UN and the International Community. It is widely believed that had the UN exercised its power and intervened well in time to the required tunes, the Rwandan Genocide could have been prevented.
"It is perhaps too late for us to use it in saving the lives of many, but it will definitely serve as a reminder of the mistakes made by Rwandans and the international community because the two should have done something to stop the Genocide," a stern Kagame said of the new film.
The film has become the subject of criticism in newspapers around the world especially in the UK, with sections of the public saying it is likely to traumatize the survivors. In Kigali, during its premiering on March 27, a genocide survivor Claudine Nyirumwiza could not bear the sight of machetes and emerged from the watching crowd, crying.
But President Kagame said: "It is like criticizing the commemoration of the genocide. It will of course have some traumatic scenes but that is the way. It is not the film that traumatizes, but what happened."
He observed that the films and what happened in Rwanda should act as an eye opener to all the stakeholders that collective responsibility is a necessity and that what happened in Rwanda should never happen anywhere else in the world.
"Of course from what the film portrays, there is need to ask ourselves; did we do enough, why didn't we? And above all, were this to happen anywhere else, are we in position to stop it?" he asked.
President Kagame also took swipe at people who have taken it upon themselves to pick wrong heroes. He noted that he is supportive of the idea to have Rwandans shooting their own version of the genocide film that will depict their true feelings on the 1994 calamity.
Despite a heavy downpour, the premier of "Shooting Dogs" drew about 1,500 people to Amahoro stadium on Tuesday night.
According to the film crew, the film's title refers to the way UN troops shot dogs eating the corpses that littered the streets of Kigali then.
Of the many films that have been shot about the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda, none of them is acted solely by Rwandans.
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