Marie-Clementine Dusabejambo’s Ben’Imana has been selected by Rwanda as its first ever official entry to the Oscars.
Ben’Imana, which world premiered in Cannes’s Un Certain Regard section this year, is the country’s official submission for the best international feature film category for the 99th Academy Awards.
Ben’Imana’s Cannes premiere was the first time a film from Rwanda had screened in the festival’s official selection. It went on to win the Caméra d’Or for best first feature and the Fipresci Prize.
Starring Isabelle Kabano with Clémentine U. Nyirinkindi and Kesia Kelly Nishimwe, Ben’Imana is set in 2012 and told through the eyes of a community of women in a Rwandan village still learning to live with itself 18 years after the genocide against the Tutsi. It focuses on a woman who has spent years helping survivors and the families of those responsible, whose own daughter’s future becomes entangled with the past.
The film had its North American premiere at Toronto and will make its UK premiere at the BFI London Film Festival this month.
It is set for a theatrical release in the UK on February 19 through film producer Cameron Lamb’s independent media company Alexander, which is launching a dedicated film arm. World sales are handled by mk2.
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