THREE Rwandan films, ‘Muzunga’, ‘From Here to There’ and ‘Twin Lakes Haven’, have been selected to screen and compete in the forthcoming International Short Film Festival Oberhausen slated from May 4-9 in Oberhausen, Germany. Founded in 1954, the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen is considered the oldest short film festival in the world and is one of the largest international platforms for the short films. The short film competition is a forum for experiments, unusual content and formats, and the place for cinematic discoveries, regardless of genre and production country. Every year, filmmakers from over 40 countries present themselves. Only international festival premieres are admitted to this competition. The professional audience researches new films here, and a premiere shown in this competition is often a springboard for selection at other festivals - not least for the Oscars. ‘Muzunga’, loosely translated ‘Vertigo’, is a 17-minute short film by filmmaker Mosie Ganza. It follows a moto driver’s sanity that is pushed to the edge when a total lockdown confronts him with the void in his life. Meanwhile ‘From Here to There’, a three-minute short movie directed by Remy Ryumugabe, follows an old and wise woman sitting by the lake, reflecting on existence. ‘From Here to There’ movie poster. Two films were produced by household film producer and director Deve Shema, the co-founder of Kiruri Film, a Kigali-based independent production and distribution company. “For me it’s a joy and success to have two films competing against the world’s best movies such as those from Hollywood, Europe and Asian,” Shema tells The New Times. “I don’t see this joyful news of selection as an individual but as an industry/country in general. All Rwandans should be more proud of the great work WE filmmakers are doing; we are lifting our Rwandan filmmaking to the next level. So, this gives me more hope and energy to do much more,” he adds. Meanwhile, ‘Twin Lakes Haven’, another short movie shortlisted to screen at the festival, is a project by filmmaker Aime Philbert Mbabazi who has been in the filmmaking industry since 2012, after he obtained a degree in cinema from Geneva University of Art and Design. Aime Philbert Mbabazi, the director of Twin Lakes Haven’ movie It’s obviously not the first production for the filmmaker who began filmmaking during school times where he made two films, ‘The Liberators’ and ‘Versus’. Both films were screened at several film festivals including Vision du Réel Nyon, Internationale Kurzfilmtage Winterthur, Tampere, Oberhausen and Uppsala Short Film Festival. After graduating in 2017, he returned to Rwanda. It would not be his first time wining a prize at the Oberhausen International Film Festival either, having previously taken home one in 2019 for his movie ‘I Got My Things and Left’. The film was screened at more than 20 film festivals such as Rotterdam International Film Festival, Internationale Kurzfilmtage Winterthur, Internationale Kurzfilmtage Winterthur, Go Short Nijmegen, Indie Lisboa and ISFF Hamburg, and FIFF Namur, among others. Like the three Rwandan movies, filmmakers from all over the world are invited to present their work in person. The International Short Film Festival Oberhausen appoints its own selection committee and juries for this competition, in which the traditional Grand Prize of the City of Oberhausen is awarded. Moise Ganza, the director of ‘Muzuga’, a short movie selected for the Oberhausen International Short Film Festival slated next month in Germany. In 2021, the Short Film Festival introduced a second international competition, the International Online Competition, which will be screened exclusively online. Starting in 2021, international productions can be submitted for either the International Competition or the International Online Competition, but not both. In terms of timing, the International Online Competition will be separated from the competitions in the cinema; from April 30 to May 3, 2022, the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen will present the online competitions, and from May 4, the Festival plans to show the traditional competition programmes in the cinema. The awards ceremony will then take place jointly on May 9.
