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Rwanda: Hillywood Brings Cinema to Villages
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Focus Media (Kigali)
COLUMN
26 March 2008
Posted to the web 26 March 2008
Timothy Kisambira
Imagine the excitement of five to ten thousand people watching a film in Kinyarwanda in a remote location on a huge inflatable screen. It is exactly what is happening all around the country these days, courtesy of the Rwanda Cinema Center (RCC) through the Rwanda film festival, also known as Hillywood.
Guido Convents wrote the history of Rwandan and Burundian cinema in his book "Images et Paix".
In a world where television and Hollywood films are forging opinions and threatening cultural diversity and liberty, says Eric Kabera, the founder of Rwandan Cinema Centre, RCC is convinced that young aspiring film makers need to be empowered to tell their stories through films.
He adds that there are many opportunities for gifted and emerging filmmakers to make films in their mother-tongue.
Among the film festival's highlights are two short movies made during the training of three young Rwandan talents by the Swedish Institute with the support of the Gothenburg film fund in November-December 2007.
Yet the RCC also focuses on specific target groups, for example giving much attention to family and children entertainment through cinema and animated films.
Therefore it organizes Carte Blanche Children, a program for children during the festival to help and encourage children aged below 14 to understand various issues.
"This special component of the festival includes discussion between children and experienced and engaged filmmakers," says Eric Kabera.
As films, television or video in general are important tools in people's entertainment and mass education, RCC believes that, like in other professions, women can make a difference in the way films communicate issues to the community.
In this context, RCC is committed to promote cinema created by and for women. In a festival mood, women showcase their artworks to their fellows during the Women Panorama of Hillywood, aimed at encouraging women to write, shoot, direct, animate, produce and edit films.
Eric Kabera says that getting women interested and involving them in the film industry will also very much contribute in instilling the spirit of alliance and building self-confidence amongst women.
Conveying dreams and stories
In Kigali, the Cinema Center runs a hands-on training course for young filmmakers. RCC is convinced that films can be an important instrument in the socio-economic development of the country, and can contribute to conflict prevention and the reconciliation process in Rwanda.
The training course teaches the students the theory and practice of filmmaking, from script writing to editing, empowering them to produce short films based on their own manuscript, conveying their dreams and stories via the powerful medium of film.
As a result, during the Hillywood festival the people have the possibility to watch films in their own language, with images and messages that they can truly relate to.
The visionary and commercial efforts of RCC and its group of talented and enthusiastic students are thus contributing to the emergency of a Rwandan film sector.
In 2005 and 2007, with the support of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, the Swedish Institute and the Gothenburg International Film Festival Fund, Eric Kabera says that RCC invited Swedish film professionals Martin Widerberg and Goran Kapetanovic to facilitate a training course in Rwanda.
The films that where produced during the training have subsequently been shown in Sweden and in film festivals around the world.
The collaboration, Eric Kabera says, is a good example of international culture exchange for development, where knowledge, skills and experience are shared between Sweden and Rwandan professionals in the area of culture and media.
"While so many films are being made on the genocide, a component of the film festival is to discuss and share ideas on what should be the content of these films," says Eric Kabera, adding that this event brings together genocide survivor's organization, artists, filmmakers, government official's, senators and members of parliament.
Hillywood features over 60 films, with a cocktail of short films made in Rwanda and abroad. Moreover, this year's edition also saw the presentation of Images et Paix, a history of Rwandan and Burundian cinema over the last 100 years, written by Guido Convents.
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The Rwandan film festival will also see the premiere, on March 30, of the film Rwanda Renaissance, a half hour documentary film produced by the Africa Channel, a Hollywood-based company dedicated to African programs.
CALL FOR ENTRIES 12th Annual LA Shorts Fest is the largest short film festival in the world. We are accredited by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences. In past years, 29 participants have earned Academy Award nominations. Last year’s award winners received prizes totaling over $100,000. The festival annually attracts more than 10,000 moviegoers, filmmakers and entertainment executives looking for the hottest new talent. We have honored some of Hollywood’s legends of the past: Charles Chaplin, Harold Lloyd, and Robert Wise; along with actors Martin Landau, James Woods, Gary Oldman and directors Tim Burton, Bryan Singer, Jan... [Read Full Text]
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