AFTER FINALISING its post-production project in December last year, ‘Trees of Peace’, a feature movie that tells a story about four women who survived the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, is finally here. The film will start showing during an online premiere from April 9-10, during the commemoration week.

 ‘Trees of Peace’ is the story of four women who find unity, hope, and strength through one of the world’s darkest tragedies.

Based on events during the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, four women from different backgrounds and beliefs are trapped together in an underground room.

 As they contend with the fear of being found and fight a slow death from starvation, they are forced to reconcile their inner demons and put their differences aside to live through the day—for 81 days straight.

 American filmmaker Alanna Brown, the movie director and producer has announced that the 97-minute movie will for the first time premiere next month,  during the 27th commemoration week of Kwibuka 27.

"I think it's amazing that the film will premiere during the Commemoration of the Genocide against the Tutsi. Rwandans (and all audiences) can expect to see an intimate story of four women; it is not so much a tale of the Genocide as it is of these women living through it. I hope to make Rwandans proud of this representation on screen,” Alanna told The New Times in an interview. 

 "I made this film to honor the women of Rwanda, who I see as inspirational and as warriors. It's incredible to me that Rwanda has the highest percentage of women appointed to government of any country in the world and I want that fact to be more widely known. I want audiences to see Rwanda as a global example of progress after great tragedy,” she added.

 The project was conceived about eight years ago when Alanna was interviewing a woman who founded an initiative to help rebuild women survivors in Rwanda and the stories inspired her.

She began writing the screenplay in 2012. It was a two-year process writing the initial script, which was soon noticed by agents and managers.

 She then spent a couple of years meeting with studios, producers, and executives that loved the script but found the film too difficult to make.

 "During this time, I financed, produced, and directed a proof-of-concept trailer to hopefully attract financing,” said Alanna in an interview.

 Soon after that, Alanna ran a kickstarter crowd funding campaign to raise funds to make the film on a micro-budget.

 The campaign, she said, was successful, and then she began fielding offers from small production companies and producers to try to get the film made for a larger budget.

 These avenues didn't progress to anything, so in 2019 I decided to go forth with making the film with the fundraising money and I planned a trip to Rwanda.

 Around that time, producer Ron Ray reached out to her on Kickstarter after seeing a sample of her other work. But he wanted to see more of her work, and upon seeing the proof-of-concept trailer and the script, he agreed to produce the film.

  Within four months he secured equity financing from private investors and the film went into pre-production.

 The film was shot in October-November of 2019 but the post-production was delayed and extended due to Covid-19. It took all of 2020 to be finalised. 

 The film stars four main characters namely Annick, Mutesi, Jeanette and Peyton and each, according to Alanna, is a warrior in her own right but has demons that she struggles with, touching on our vast duality as humans and as women.

 The lead characters include Charmaine Bingwa, Ella Cannon, Bola Koleosho, Tongayi Chirisa and Rwanda’s famous actress Eliane Umuhire, who plays the lead role of Annick in the movie.  

 Because the movie was shot in Los Angeles, United States, Umuhire flew to the United States for the production.

 "We filed and paid for her visa to work in the U.S. and flew her out to Los Angeles for the production, which was made for a small budget despite the extra financing I got. My credit on the movie is writer/director and I was also a producer,” the filmmaker spoke of Umuhire.

 Bringing the movie to Rwanda

Alanna hopes to screen the movie in Rwanda, at the Rwandan film festival, given the pandemic permits.

 "If it can't screen at that time, I would hope to work with Eric (Kabera) to secure a screening date and time in Kigali for a public audience,” Alanna said.

 The film has so far only been screened at Santa Barbara International (listed by Studio Bilm finder as one of the top 10 festivals in the U.S.), the world premiere and the very first screening.

 "Hopefully we will screen at more [festivals) to come,” she said.