Cynthia Butare is a 27-year-old Rwandan filmmaker. Born in Geneva, Switzerland, she has been living in Rwanda for the last seven months.

Her documentary film, Ishimwa: From Bloodshed To Grace, was screened as part of the just concluded Rwanda Film Festival.

She talked to Hassan Mutuhe about her unexpected career choice, and the heights so far reached.

How long have you been in the film industry and was filmmaking your childhood dream?

In 2011 during my final year as a communication student at Manchester Metropolitan University, I did a 20-minute documentary as part of my course work. I had to come up with my own topic so I identified what I was most interested in. I took pleasure in researching and did everything on my own; that’s how I did my first film, Kickin’ It with the Kinks. It is a film about what African women living abroad go through to maintain their hair.

Kickin’ It with the Kinks was the best work in my class and it won a prize. It was a huge success and was filmed in several cities in the UK. After graduating, my parents encouraged me to pursue that path and a year later, I applied for a master’s degree course to learn more about filmmaking. So my first film wasn’t only part of education course but also an opening to a career. Ishimwa is my second film.

VIDEO: natural hair documentary: KICKIN' IT WITH THE KINKS. Source: Cynthia Butare/YouTube

Do you see filmmaking as your lifetime career or are your eyes set on something else as well?

Ever since I came to Rwanda, I’ve been working with different NGOs in areas related to filming. As of now, I can say that filming is already part of my everyday life.

Your two films so far are documentaries; do you do feature films, too?

Feature films are largely fiction and I don’t do fiction. For personal projects, I do documentaries. Then I deal with clients for promotional videos, videos that market their goals.

So you haven’t worked with any local actor/actress yet, right?

Yes, because they’re mainly involved in fiction films.

Have you watched any local films yet? If yes, what’s your take on them?

There’s a lot to learn from them. I’ve interacted with some of the people in the industry and got a lot of inspiration from them because they have a better insight about society than I do.

Tell us about Ishimwa Muhimanyi. How did you two meet and how did the idea of making a film about him come about?

I met Ishimwa on a bus in London. I looked at him and started asking myself: is he Rwandan, is he not? We later talked and discovered that he was a Rwandan who chose ballet dancing as part of therapy. At the age of four, Ishimwa’s mother was butchered before his eyes in the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. I can say that he found it easy to open up to me as a fellow Rwandan because it seems he never or rarely shared his story. I understood why ballet meant a lot to him.

VIDEO: trailer - ISHIMWA: FROM BLOODSHED TO GRACE. Source. Cynthia Butare/YouTube

What should we expect from you now that Ishimwa has been screened?

I’m currently working on a project called The Return. It’s about young people who have been living in the Diaspora but are now in the country. I want to follow at least 10 people and the project will be completed next year.