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Africa (11)
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Chronicle of a Genocide Foretold - Part 1: Blood Was Flowing Like a RiverDanièle Lacourse & Yvan Patry 1996 1 h 3 minThe cornerstone of The Rwanda Series, this volume in three parts recounts a horrifying crime that could have been prevented by the international community and international law. Shot over three years, Chronicle of a Genocide Foretold follows several Rwandans before, during and after the genocide. Part 1 explores the genesis of the genocide in two key regions of Rwanda, Kibuye and the Bugesera, where "blood was flowing like a river" and "Rwandans will never again be the same." -
Chronicle of a Genocide Foretold - Part 2: We Were CowardsDanièle Lacourse & Yvan Patry 1996 43 minThe cornerstone of The Rwanda Series, this volume in three parts recounts a horrifying crime that could have been prevented by the international community and international law. Shot over three years, Chronicle of a Genocide Foretold follows several Rwandans before, during and after the genocide. This documentary examines how and why the international community abandoned Rwandans to their killers. Focussing on the largest massacre in Kigali and featuring unique footage shot by a UN peacekeeper, this part looks at the experiences of UN soldiers who pulled out of Kigali, and of the victims who were left behind. Part 2 of Volume 3 of the series.
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Chronicle of a Genocide Foretold - Part 3: We Feel BetrayedDanièle Lacourse & Yvan Patry 1996 56 minThe cornerstone of The Rwanda Series, this volume in three parts recounts a horrifying crime that could have been prevented by the international community and international law. Shot over three years, Chronicle of a Genocide Foretold follows several Rwandans before, during and after the genocide. Following the genocide, the Hutu majority is subjected to crimes against humanity perpetrated this time by the new Rwandan government led by Tutsi extremists. This documentary records the search for justice in a land where reconciliation is still a long way off. Part 3 of Volume 3 of the series.
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From Arusha to ArushaChristophe Gargot 2008 1 h 54 minFrom Arusha to Arusha focuses on the Rwandan tragedy in order to examine the functioning of the international justice system. It examines both the activities of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), which is prosecuting those responsible for the genocide, as well as those of the gacaca courts, the people’s tribunals, which are working towards justice through reconciliation.
By juxtaposing archival audiovisual footage of an international court enacting justice behind closed doors, with images and testimony gathered in the field, the film presents conflicting points of view and invites the Rwandan people to re-appropriate their own history.
Christophe Gargot has his roots in the rich documentary tradition of such filmmakers as Raymond Depardon, people who are interested in focussing on the rituals of large institutions. This film examines the issue of universal moral values in action while at the same time questioning our relationship with the images we take in and our responsibilities as world citizens.
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Hand of God, Hand of the DevilYvan Patry , Sam Grana , … 1996 50 minIn April 1994, the international community sat by and watched while a million Tutsi men, women and children were massacred in the central African nation of Rwanda. Hand of God, Hand of the Devil, the second volume in the three-part Rwanda series, explores Canada's role in the development of the genocidal ideology that took root in Rwanda, which was considered the "jewel" of Canadian aid in Africa. This video focuses on the murder of two Canadian missionaries, killed for having protested against corruption and human rights violations. Brother François Cardinal, who worked at the controversial Rwandan college, funded by Canadian aid money to the Rwandan president's advisors. Like countless others in Rwanda, his killers were never found. Father Claude Simard, the only Canadian to have stayed in Rwanda during the 100 days of genocide, was murdered in 1994--after the regime responsible for the massacre of Tutsis had been overthrown. Since Simard had risked his life to rescue Tutsis, the Canadian government concluded that his killers must have been Hutus who feared being identified for their crimes. However, the video uncovers evidence that Simard died at the hands of the new government, upset by the Canadian priest's objections to its reprisal killings of innocent Hutus. Hand of God, Hand of the Devil raises disturbing questions about Canada's role in Rwanda. Having assisted the former regime, will Canadian aid now sow the seeds for a new crop of killers? Volume 1 of the series.
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The PeacekeepersPaul Cowan 2005 1 h 23 minIn this documentary, Paul Cowan delivers unprecedented access to the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping, and the determined and often desperate manoeuvres to avert another Rwandan disaster, this time in the Democratic Republic of Congo (the DRC). The film cuts back and forth between the United Nations headquarters in New York and events on the ground in the DRC. We are with the peacekeepers in the 'Crisis Room' as they balance the risk of loss of life on the ground with the enormous sums of money required from uncertain donor countries. We are with UN troops as the northeast Congo erupts and the future of the DRC, if not all of central Africa, hangs in the balance. As Secretary General Kofi Annan tells the General Assembly at the conclusion of The Peacekeepers: "History is a harsh judge. The world will not forgive us if we do nothing." Whether the world's peacekeeper did enough remains to be seen.
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Shock WavesPierre Mignault 2007 52 minIn the Democratic Republic of Congo, murder, rape, armed conflict and the looting of civilians by the military are daily facts of life. In this huge country where chaos and corruption reign, the journalists of Radio Okapi risk their lives every day to expose the abuses of power to which the Congolese people are subjected. This is one of the worst humanitarian crises in our world today.
Shooting in danger zones still in the grip of rebellion the filmmakers follow the work of several journalists from this free, UN-backed radio station. Taking us up the Congo River and deep into the equatorial jungle, they capture with a hidden camera a reporter's confrontation with unscrupulous soldiers who practise extortion and torture. Another reporter journeys east to cover a new outbreak of the rebellion and returns with harrowing testimony by victims of rape and destruction. Elsewhere, after denouncing the chief of police, another journalist barely escapes reprisal by a death squad. All across the country, Radio Okapi's national network of reporters takes enormous risks to put the truth on the air.
Shock Waves is a hard-hitting documentary that denounces the crimes committed by armed thugs in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It also paints an unforgettable picture of an independent radio and its courageous journalists, who are aware that they are making history.
Shot in a land where silence is imposed at gunpoint, Shock Waves provides riveting testimony to the difficult birth of freedom of expression and democracy in a country torn apart in the aftermath of war. -
Sitting on a VolcanoDanièle Lacourse 1996 55 minOnly fifty years after the Holocaust, the world has allowed another genocide to take place, this time in Rwanda. In April 1994, the international community sat by and watched while a million Tutsi men, women and children were massacred in the central African nation. Sitting on a Volcano, the first volume in the three-part Rwanda series, follows the exodus of hundreds of thousands of Hutus who fled Rwanda to take refuge in neighbouring countries. One year after the slaughter, they find themselves trapped beween gangs of Rwandan war criminals in control of the refugee camps and their country's new masters, who show little interest in reconciliation. Sitting on a Volcano criticizes the international community, which continues to feed the killers in the refugee camps and refuses to acknowledge human rights violations in Rwanda. The video makes a strong case that until those responsible for the genocide are brought to justice, Rwanda cannot begin to heal itself. Volume 2 of the series.
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Unspoken Tears (Trauma Through Words)Hélène Magny 2022 1 h 15 minHow can refugee children integrate into Quebec’s school system, given the unspeakable violence they’ve experienced? Following a psychologist specializing in conflict-related trauma, Unspoken Tears pays tribute to the admirable resilience and survival strategies of these “small adults,” whose spirit the bombs and camps have not completely crushed, at a time when it is vital to raise awareness in Western societies of migration-related issues and children’s rights.
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WaitingMarie-Claude Harvey 1996 32 minThis short documentary zooms in on the Dinka population of Alek, South Sudan, during a period of famine. The Dinkas are an extremely patient people. With empty stomachs, they await the next harvest. For the last 40 years, an intermittent state of civil war has divided the country in 2. This time, the population has requested aid. Sacks of grain are dropped from planes, but to prevent rioting, distribution is delayed until the arrival of reinforcements. During this week of waiting, we witness the true face of hunger.
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War HospitalDavid Christensen & Damien Lewis 2005 1 h 29 minShot in cinema-vérité style, this feature doc immerses us in the sights and sounds of the world's largest field hospital, the International Committee of the Red Cross in Sudan. The ICRC allowed filmmakers David Christensen and Damien Lewis unprecedented access to the surgical hospital and local medical staff as they care for wounded Sudanese soldiers and women and children, all casualties of the civil war.
With no narrator and minimal explanation, War Hospital simply and powerfully captures the joy and sadness of life and death.
