RWANDAN FILMMAKER Eric Mutuyimana is in Yaounde, Cameroon, where he is expected to pitch a movie project from which he seeks to raise funds in excess of Rwf150 million to produce his upcoming film.
Mutuyimana is working on a movie project dubbed ‘Qui Est Mon Pere’, loosely translated as ‘Who is my father?’, a film that broadly reflects on how youth are coping with life after the Genocide against the Tutsi towards building a bright future for the nations for generations to come.
The 17-minute documentary is inspired by a true story of a young woman who was born to a Rwandan mother during the Genocide and a Senegalese father who was part of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR) troops who were camping at the Zone Turquoise in Kibuye during the Genocide.
The young woman was born just few months after his father left the country but died a year after the Genocide. She as result spent 25 years thinking that his father was among the Tutsi victims killed during the Genocide.
"Her mother never wanted to tell her who her father was or whether he was still alive because she was not comfortable to say anything that about what happened during the 1994 tragedy,” Mutuyimana said of the documentary project in an interview with The New Times.
"It’s a true story. I had the chance to talk to the young lady and she is now planning to travel to Senegal to visit the family of her father. She is wondering if the family of her father in Senegal will accept her 27 years since her father’s death and I am looking forward to how this journey will end,” he added.
According to the filmmaker, the documentary is more about the story of this young lady’s life after Genocide but also how the post-Genocide youth are coping with life after the Genocide.
It’s a project he is expected to pitch at the Yaounde film lab which started last week and runs until April 30, in Yaoundé.
The film lab brings together different filmmakers from across the continent convening to pitch movie projects before a number of film experts in search of funding to produce them.
The projects being pitched vary in different categories including features, series and documentaries to which Mutuyimana’s project belongs.
Filmmakers with the best African stories are either linked to potential sponsors ready to provide funding for them to be able to start the production of their projects.
Mutuyimana is expected to pitch his project on April 30, the final day of the film lab. He needs a staggering Euros 150, 000 budget (Rwf160 million) to successfully run his documentary project.
"I need funds for this documentary because I want to produce a very good product that I believe can make big strides at the international scene,” he said.
The Yaounde film Lab becomes the very first international contest the filmmaker is competing at. His biggest achievement came in 2014 when he won two major prizes at the 1000 Hills Film awards.