First film: GACACA LIVING TOGETHER AGAIN IN RWANDA? (2002)Venturing into the rural heart of the African nation of Rwanda, this film follows the first steps in one of the world’s boldest experiments in reconciliation: the Gacaca (Ga-CHA-cha) Tribunals. These are a new form of citizen-based justice, aimed at unifying this country of 8 million people, after the 1994 genocide. Award-winning documentarian Anne Aghion bypasses the usual interviews with politicians and aid workers, skips the statistics, and goes directly to the emotional core of the story, talking one-on-one with survivors and accused killers alike.
Second film: IN RWANDA WE SAY… THE FAMILY THAT DOES NOT SPEAK DIES (2004)Since 1999, award-winning filmmaker Anne Aghion has traveled to rural Rwanda, to chart the impact of that country’s efforts at ethnic reconciliation. This, her second film on the subject, continues Aghion’s quest to learn how the human spirit survives a trauma as unfathomable as the attempt, in 1994, to wipe out the Tutsi minority, with 800,000 lives claimed in 100 days. A fascinating and intimate look at how, and whether, people can overcome fear, hatred and deep emotional scars, to forge a common future after genocide.
Third film: THE NOTEBOOKS OF MEMORY (2009)On a lush green Rwandan hillside, more than a decade after the 1994 genocide, a small rural community gathers on the grass over and over again for the Gacaca trials. This final chapter follows the process, as a tribunal of local citizen-judges weighs survivor accounts of the massacres against the testimony of perpetrators who barter confessions for reduced prison sentences.
Feature-length documentary: MY NEIGHBOR MY KILLER (premiere March/April 2009)MY NEIGHBOR MY KILLER is the feature-length documentary which includes footage from all three films in the trilogy. The final installment in the series will be released during the 15th year commemoration of the Rwandan genocide in April 2009. In
My Neighbor My Killer, award-winning filmmaker Anne Aghion has filmed for over a decade in a tiny rural hamlet, and has charted the impact of the Gacaca on survivors and perpetrators alike. Through their fear and anger, accusations and defenses, blurry truths, inconsolable sadness and hope for life renewed, she captures the emotional journey to co-existence.
My Neighbor My Killer (2009), won the Nestor Almendros Prize for courage in filmmaking and was an official selection at the Cannes Film Festival.
Anne received a 2005 Emmy for
IN RWANDA WE SAY, 2005 Guggenheim Fellowship, and 2003 Fellini Prize for
GACACA.http://www.anneaghionfilms.com/ 