Gilbert Ndahayo

The 1994 Rwandan Genocide is notorious: in the course of 100 days, up to one million were slaughtered. Gilbert Ndahyao shot 'Behind this Convent' in the back yard of the home of his parents, located behind a convent in a small town outside of Kigali. During this time, nuns exhumed the bodies of Gilbert's parents and 200 others. The nuns and survivors then performed traditional practices to bury their dead and try to put to rest the troubled past. Gilbert's film is an attempt to document his loss and investigate the events that led to the 1994 genocide which he survived. By the same token, he also wanted to examine whether he could forgive the person who beheaded his father and burned his mother and younger sister during the genocide.

Year of Entry: 2009
Category: Main Prize
Artform: Film
Location: Rwanda
Permalink: http://www.freedomtocreate.com/gilbert-ndahayo