The first time I watched Grey Matter, a feature-length film directed by Kivu Ruhorahoza during the 2011 Rwanda Film Festival, I must confess that at the beginning I failed to understand the story line until I realized that it consists of three stories. This film focuses on the post-traumatic stress that people suffered after witnessing the horrific incidents of the Genocide against Tutsi.
The first time I watched Grey Matter, a feature-length film directed by Kivu Ruhorahoza during the 2011 Rwanda Film Festival, I must confess that at the beginning I failed to understand the story line until I realized that it consists of three stories. This film focuses on the post-traumatic stress that people suffered after witnessing the horrific incidents of the Genocide against Tutsi.
The first story is about is about a young filmmaker Balthazar (Herve Kimenyi) who is seeking funding for his first fictional film, "The Cycle of the Cockroach” which portrays the psychological consequences of the Genocide. The second story is about a man locked up in an asylum, haunted by the atrocities he committed during the Genocide.
And the third story is about Yvan (Ramadhan Shami Bizimana) and his sister Justine (Ruth Shanel Nirere), two young survivors who are trying to rebuild their lives after the Genocide. Justine tries to convince her brother to draw again because he was a great artist. Yvan always wears a motorcycle helmet on his head as a result of the traumatic incidents that he witnessed.
The movie reflects the lives and uncertainties that young Rwandan survivors.