International actresses and filmmakers are expected to grace the third edition of the Urusaro International Women Film Festival from March 3 to 9 at Marasa Umubano Hotel, Kigali.

Themed ‘Cinema in women’s empowerment’, the annual festival has become a special platform that brings together female filmmakers, directors and producers in the country and abroad to share their experience in the film industry.

Orchestrated in 2016, the festival is produced by ‘Cine Femme Rwanda’, an organisation that brings together local female filmmaking professionals.

Jacqueline Murekeyisoni, the festival’s organiser, says the event is an opportunity to bring women together to share experience on how best to improve filmmaking and take it to another level.

This year’s film festival, Murekeyisoni says, will be special as they are looking to introduce ‘Rwanda Movies Day’, to be celebrated on the same day as the International Women’s Day.

"We are looking forward to celebrating International Women’s Day by proving how capable we are in filmmaking. It is a potential channel through which women can express themselves through the films they write, direct or act in,” she told The New Times.

During the festival, a total of 15 films from different countries, 11 local and four foreign, will be screened and the best films will be awarded on the closing day of the festival.

The festival is expected to attract female filmmakers from different countries across Africa and beyond, including Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Gabon, Tanzania, Senegal, Tunisia, Ghana, France and USA, among others.

The selected films to feature at the festival will be screened at two different venues, namely Iriba Centre, US Embassy and Marasa Umubano Hotel for the closing ceremony. Most of them focus on children’s rights, women’s rights, domestic issues, and much more.

The festival will also include a workshop by differentt experts in the industry, local and international, focusing especially on improving script writing and directing.

The festival is open to female and male filmmakers who cast women as their lead actors.

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