Context
Africa United is a UK-South Africa-Rwanda co-production filmed across three countries: Rwanda, Burundi and South Africa. Th
Africa United is a UK-South Africa-Rwanda co-production filmed across three countries: Rwanda, Burundi and South Africa. The film is the first formal co-production between the UK and Rwanda. Rwanda's Ministry of Youth, Culture and Sports is in the process of setting up an official Rwandan film commission to encourage international productions to shoot in the country.
The project originated with Rwandan filmmaker Eric Kabera, who wanted a film which showed Rwanda in a different light from the stories about the 1994 genocide. He wrote an initial script about a boy who makes a journey from Rwanda to the World Cup. When UK-based company Footprint Films heard the idea they loved it. They used the premise of Kabera's idea and involved Rhidian Brook to write the screenplay.
- What do you understand about the word 'genocide'?
- What do you know about the Rwandan genocide in 1994?
- What do you think Eric Kabera meant by wanting to present Rwanda in a 'different light'? From the clips and images you have seen, do you think Africa United achieves this?
- What do you think will be the benefits to the people of Rwanda if more films are shot there?