GREY MATTER

Directed by Kivu Ruhorahoza

Rwanda, 2011 , 100 min.

Grey Matter is the first Rwandan feature film made by a Rwandan director. This film-within-a-film, set in the Rwandan capital of Kigali, quietly and brilliantly explores what it is like to survive the aftermath of a genocide. The film follows three separate, yet intertwining, stories. In the outer story, Balthazar, a young filmmaker, attempts to find government funding for his debut film, The Cycle of the Cockroach, only to be turned down because his film focuses too much on the past. Undeterred, he borrows money from a loan shark. The viewer then sees Balthazar’s film being played out on the screen, dramatizing two inner stories. One story is the portrayal of a former assassin locked in a mental institution where he relives the genocide; the other depicts the day-to-day struggles of Yvan and Justine, brother and sister survivors, who are valiantly trying to rebuild their lives. Film source: Global Films Initiative.

In Kinyarwanda and French with English subtitles.

Sponsored by Lewis & Clark College.