Sunday night, all roads led to One Love, in Kimicanga for the screening of ‘Coming Back to Rwanda.’ The event was grand and was graced by a Reggae and Dancehall party, with an electrifying performance by renowned local DJs, including Focus and Makeda, the only female DJ in the country. ‘Coming Back to Rwanda’ is a nine minute short documentary trailer, written and directed by 26-year-old Rwandan based in Canada, Allan Karakire. The trailer explores the visual of Karakire’s vision about his forthcoming documentary which will capture Rwandans in the Diasporas. Speaking to The New Times, Karakire said that the objective of the documentary is to inspire Rwandans to return in the country and contribute to its development. The trailer is inspiring in the making and the storyline follows a young Rwandan, who grew up in Canada but fell in love with his motherland and encourages even others to return and be part of history in the making. It explores universal themes including, family, culture and life in the foreign country. The documentary will not only inspire the Diasporas, it is also an important cultural and artistic achievement for the young people who worked on it. After the success of his trailer which he solely funded, Karakire decided to premiere it and fundraise for the film. “I can’t afford to complete the documentary because the project requires a lot of money; I need sponsors to help me do it,” Karakire said. Karakire said that he believes the documentary ‘Coming Back to Rwanda’ will change people’s perception towards Rwanda. “You can come to this country and build your career,” Karakire said. “Some people think that coming back to Rwanda is risk that you might not get a job, or that you can’t really get a career.” The young filmmaker, who returned in the country during the presidential elections said: “Myself, I’m trying to get into the film industry, and Rwanda to me before was that isn’t a country where you want to start a career in film,” Karakire narrated. He added that after visiting the country in June, 2010, he realised that people are interested to know about Rwanda, and why not take the advantage and showcase it in a positive way by showing people the real Rwanda and the Rwandans who returned and actually love it here. ‘Coming Back to Rwanda’ will also target different groups of Rwandans: Those who were born and grew from abroad, those who went to study and returned and the survivours of the Genocide against the Tutsi, who are coming back in the country for the first time after the tragedy. Karakire urged people to come and see Rwanda by themselves instead of basing on the hear-say. “You can’t tell people that Rwanda is a safe country and that they should comeback, that’s why we need to use documentaries to showcase the country and there people can be able to judge themselves,” he added. Ends
