WITH the Rwanda Film Festival (RFF) just a few days away, organisers are busy with preparations to host several filmmakers from Africa and beyond.The ninth edition of the annual festival runs from July 20-26, with upcoming and seasoned film directors, rubbing shoulders at one of Africa’s biggest cinema gatherings. The one-week festival will be celebrated in two phases; the Kigali premiere, and Hillywood which will take place in Musanze, Rubavu and Huye.A red carpet premiere will be held at the Century Cinema, located at Kigali City Tower on July 20. Several other movie screenings will take place in different parts of Kigali, including Club Rafiki, Kigali Memorial Centre at Gisozi, New Papyrus, and Kigali Public Library, among other venues.  Speaking to The New Times, Romeo Umulisa, the festival coordinator and Art director, said this year’s festival will be celebrated under the theme: "Our Mothers, Our Heroes,” and focuses on films that provided a holistic representation of women."All the submissions of 49 films were selected from both local and international film industries. The films were selected according to the role of women and representation of different themes on family related issues,” explained Umulisa.The festival will feature films of different categories including fiction, animation and experimental, both short and feature length movies, and documentaries.The local films selected to premiere at the event are "Kivutu”, "Imbabazi”, "Nzirambi”, "Behind the word”, "Special Thief” and "Maama,” according to Umulisa.RFF believes film and art can lead to better understanding and help foster communication between people of diverse cultures, races, and lifestyle while at the same time, serve as a vehicle to initiate dialogue on the important issues of our times.The 2013 Rwanda film festival is organised by Rwanda Cinema Centre in partnership with the Ministry of Sports and Culture.