In 1994 Rwanda’s Hutu populace was incited to wipe out the country’s Tutsi minority. From the crowded capital to the smallest village, local “patrols” massacred lifelong friends and family members, most often with machetes and improvised weapons. In 1999 the government began Gacaca (ga-CHA-cha)—open-air hearings with citizen-judges meant to try their neighbours and rebuild the nation. As part of this experiment in reconciliation, tens of thousands of confessed genocide killers are sent home from prison, while traumatised survivors are asked to forgive them and resume living side-by-side. Filming for close to a decade in a tiny rural hamlet, award-winning filmmaker Anne Aghion has charted the impact of Gacaca on survivors and perpetrators alike. Through their fear and anger, accusations and defences, blurry truths, inconsolable sadness and hope for life renewed, she captures the emotional journey to coexistence.
Presented in association with Facing History and Ourselves, www.facinghistory.org and International Alert, www.international-alert.org