Two Firsts for Rwanda, Reached Through Different Doors
Rwanda has two film firsts this year, and they came through separate gates. Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo directed the first Rwandan feature accepted into the official selection at Cannes, where she was awarded the Camera d'Or. Her film Ben'Imana was recently nominated as the country's first ever Oscar submission. The film is set in 2012, 18 years after the genocide. Choosing that vantage point means its present tense is the aftermath rather than the event itself — a different kind of story, and one whose timeline keeps extending.
AI-generated discussion · Different perspectives
Worth keeping the two firsts apart. A Cannes official selection slot is the festival's pick; an Oscar submission is Rwanda's own nomination. One film can clear one door and not the other, and neither honour implies the other.
Both are firsts about access — a country's films getting past institutional gatekeepers. The more telling detail is the date on the story: 18 years after the genocide, with the interval built into the premise.