In the years following the 1994 Rwandan genocide, where hundreds of thousands of Hutus were incited to wipe out the country’s Tutsi minority, the international community and Western media attempted to reconcile their complicity in the crimes due to inadequate reporting, indifference and inaction. At the same time, tiny villages across Rwanda were grappling with reconciliation on another scale. In 1999, the government instituted the Gacaca Tribunals—open-air hearings with citizen- judges—intended to try their neighbors and rebuild the nation. Confessed genocidal killers who had, under the pretenses of a civil war, massacred lifelong friends and family members— often with machetes and improvised weapons—were sent home from prison to stand before their traumatized victims, who are asked to do the unthinkable: to forgive them and resume living together as neighbors. Filming in a tiny Rwandan village for nearly a decade, award-winning documentarian Anne Aghion meticulously and unflinchingly observes the impact of the Gacaca Tribunals on the survivors and perpetrators alike, asking, “Is it possible to ever forgive the people who slaughtered your entire family?” Moreover, “Is it possible to once again live side by side with them as neighbors?” Aghion captures the acute pain and bitter resentment of many of the women survivors, who are wary that these trials will serve as another platform for the killers’ denials and never lead to real justice. Nonetheless, through the survivors’ fear and anger and the perpetrators’ defenses, guilt and muddled truths, Aghion reveals Rwandans’ unfathomable capacity for forgiveness.

Post-screening discussion with filmmaker Anne Aghion and Lars Waldorf, Lecturer and Director, Centre for International Human Rights, University of London.

Filmmaker Q&A

Introduce yourself:
Multiple award-winning filmmaker Anne Aghion has just completed the Gacaca (Ga-CHA-cha) Series, widely regarded as a seminal body of work on Rwanda’s experiment in justice after the genocide.  For nearly a decade, she filmed in a tiny rural community to discover how survivors and perpetrators are coping with the government’s attempt to reunite the nation. Aghion began her film career after a decade at The New York Times and the International Herald Tribune in Paris. She holds a degree in Arab Language and Literature from Barnard College at Columbia University in New York and is the recipient of a 2005 Guggenheim Fellowship, and a 2005 Emmy Award.

What inspired this film?   How did you find your subjects?
Almost ten years ago, I met several Rwandan justice officials who were in the US for a few weeks to discuss alternative methods of dispute resolution. I decided the very first evening I met them and heard them talking about the Gacaca that this was a film!  I went to Rwanda four times before I started filming.  I met the prosecutor you see at the beginning of the film, who put in place the pre-Gacaca and decided to start by focusing on these proceedings.  This prosecutor was going to work in three communal lockups initially, and I chose the one that was the furthest from the main road because I wanted to work with people who had had as little media exposure as possible.  Then, I went to meet the local representatives of the survivor organization.  Basically, I guess you could say that my choice was geographic. Little by little, I zeroed in on one community and then on a few people in that community.  

What were some of the biggest challenges/surprises?
Everything was a challenge!  I think the hardest thing though was the scope of the pain I encountered.  Initially I didn’t think this was affecting me but as I continued to work and things accumulated, I realized the emotional toll this was taking on me.  This all became apparent in the editing room, more than on the ground.

Who are some of your favorite filmmakers? 
Andrei Tarkowsky, Terence Malick, Arturo Ripstein, Nanni Moretti, Jacques Audiard, Laurent Cantet, Orson Welles, Pedro Almodovar, Clint Eastwood, Ozu.  

What is your all time favorite documentary?
I loved Coppola’s wife’s doc about the making of Apocalypse Now.  I think it was called Into the Heart of Darkness, but I’m not entirely sure.

What other projects are in the pipeline?
I’m actually working on a book based on the film, with Lars Waldorf who has been studying Gacaca for several years and who teaches at the U. of London.  The book will have the same title.  As for a new film, well, I have a lot of ideas but I’m not sure which one will stick yet. I’m hoping to take a bit of time off to clear my head after these intense ten years and look at the world for inspiration.  

Why did you become a filmmaker?
I had been working in daily newspapers, although not as a journalist – for almost ten years, and the daily deadlines were frustrating to me.  I felt like I needed to slow down and look at the world more slowly.  Documentary film – film in general actually – allows for more complexity and nuance because of this slower process.  

Did you go to film school?
I never went to film school. I got my first camera from Ricky Leacock – it was a Hi-8 surveillance camera.  Ricky said to just go out and film...

What do you shoot on?
I started working on a SONY PD 150 for this film ten years ago, and continued on similar cameras that could allow me to edit the film seamlessly.  So we also used PD170’s and PDX10’s.  I’ve also worked – for ICE PEOPLE, the film I made in Antarctica – in full Hdcam with a SONY F900.  

What has been the most unexpected thing to happen since taking the film on the festival circuit?
This film’s acceptance into the CANNES film festival!  This was a complete fairy tale!

Why did you want to screen your film at SILVERDOCS?
I’ve wanted to have a film at SILVERDOCS since the beginning.  I tried last year, and it didn’t work.  I’m thrilled to be there this year.  It’s a great venue in Washington – an important place for this film and me – and also a key festival in the US doc landscape!