Munyurangabo

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2009-04-28T13:43:00.000-07:00

*Director Lee Isaac Chung and Sam Andersen Q&A at Munyurangabo NYC Opening Screening - Friday, May 29th*

***

~ Recent Reviews

07/22/09 - Roger Ebert gives Munyurangabo a glowing review and says "Perhaps the best way to approach a subject of bewildering complexity is with simplicity."!
Read the review here.

Other reviews here.

~ Next Screening, August 7th in Santa Fe

Hosted by:	Film Movement
Where:	The Screen
When:	Friday, August 7th until Thursday, August 13th

Host A Screening

2009-04-24T11:07:00.000-07:00

Munyurangabo is available now to show on your campus, at your church, or at your next fundraising event. We will work with your group to find an affordable price to screen the film – our goal is for Munyurangabo to be seen as widely as possible by those most ready to rally around it.

Please contact Film Movement’s Non-Theatrical distribution manager Cambria Matlow to arrange for the public performance rights at cambria@filmmovement or 212-941-7744 x205

Reviews

2009-04-24T10:11:00.001-07:00

Roger Ebert.com

Perhaps the best way to approach a subject of bewildering complexity is with simplicity.

Read the article

ImageJournal.org, Art, Faith and Mystery

It shows me a picture of present-day Rwanda, as commoners struggle to cultivate hope on ground that recently ran red with the blood of genocide.

Read the article

NOLA.com, New Orleans Movie News

'Munyurangabo' an authentic picture of Rwanda.

Read the article

IFC.com, voices of independent culture.

IFC.com sums up a lot of the press Munyurangabo has received.
Read the article

The New York Times

"Munyurangabo is both modest and ambitious"

Read the article

Time Out New York

Time out New York gives Munyurangabo 4 stars!
Read the article

IndieWire

Indiewire reviews Munyurangabo days before the theatrical opening in NYC!
Read the article

Slant

“Piercing, authentic [and] entrancing!...Intense empathy courses throughout Chung’s first feature.”

Read the Article

Hammer to Nail

“A beautiful, haunting reminder that by opening its creative arms to the world, American cinema has the power to transform it…[A] powerful debut…a new, transcendent moment for independent cinema”

Read the Article

Film Comment

“Remarkable! An authentically beautiful film…a ‘small’ masterpiece”

Read the Article

Filmmaker Magazine

“Outstanding! Astonishing…intimate”

Variety

“Immediately striking! Supremely confident! An astonishing and thoroughly masterful debut!”

Read the Article

Cast & Crew

2009-04-23T15:17:00.000-07:00

~ Director's Biography

Lee Isaac Chung

A son of Korean immigrants, Chung grew up on a small farm in rural Arkansas, and then attended Yale University to study Biology. At Yale, with exposure to art cinema in his senior year, he dropped his plans for medical school and pursued filmmaking. MUNYURANGABO is his first feature film. He resides in New York with his wife Valerie, and manages Almond Tree Films, a production company he founded with his collaborators, Samuel Anderson and Jenny Lund.

~ Actor's Biographies

Jeff Rutagengwa (as Munyurangabo)

Jeff became an orphan of the genocide when his father went missing during the war. At the age of eleven, he traveled to Kigali, where he lived on the streets, supporting himself through petty theft. After several failed attempts to educate himself (the task proved to be financially impossible), Jeff began working as a porter at Kigali’s oldest public market in Kimisagara. As a result, he managed to secure housing in one of the neighborhood ghettos. In 2006, he received the good news that his father hadn’t died in the genocide and was living as a refugee in Uganda. They reunited that year.

Eric Dorunkundiye (as Sangwa)

After his father died in the genocide, Eric moved from his village to escape the difficult living conditions at home. He works as a porter at a Kimisagara market, lives in the neighborhood’s ghettos, and helps support his mother and siblings who remain in the countryside. After working on “Munyurangabo”, Eric hopes for more opportunities to act in Rwandan films.

Edouard B Uwayo (as the Poet)

Uwayo is a native of Rwanda’s Western region, where he lived on a hillside farm. As the only remaining man in his family, he moved to Kigali to find work and support his mothers and sisters. In Kigali, an artist discovered Uwayo’s creative talents and mentored him in drama and poetry. Uwayo is now widely recognized in his country for his artistic endeavors, and in 2006 he was appointed by the Rwandan ministry to serve as a poet laureate for Rwanda’s Liberation Day official ceremony. “Munyurangabo” features the poems that Uwayo delivered for the event.

~ Credits

Cast

Munyurangabo	Jeff Rutagengwa
Sangwa	Eric Ndorunkundiye
Sangwa’s mother	Narcicia Nyirabucyeye
Sangwa’s father	Jean Marie Nkurykiyinka
Gwiza	Jean Pierre Harerimana Mulomda
Poet	Edouard B Uwayo
Ngabo’s father	Etienne Rugazora
Father’s killers	Pierre Claver Kayitsinga

Crew

Director	Lee Isaac Chung
Producer	Lee Isaac Chung
Editor	Lee Isaac Chung
Cinematographer	Lee Isaac Chung
Executives Producers	Hand Gil Chung, Robert Liang
Co-Producers	Samuel Anderson, Jenny Lund
Associate Producers	Fidele Kanamugire, Daddy Youssouf Ruhorahoza
Writers	Samuel Anderson, Lee Isaac Chung
Script Advisor	Noel Munyurangabo
Sound Engineer	Jenny Lund
Original Poetry	Edouard B Uwayo
Original Solo Music	Claire Wibabara
Piannist	Yu Franz Mo Cheung
Art Director	Jean Kwezi
Translator	Emmanuel Ahishakiye

Director's Statement

2009-04-23T15:08:00.000-07:00

~ Origin of the Project

In the summer of 2006, Samuel Anderson, Jenny Lund, and I taught a summer course in filmmaking and photography at a Christian relief base, YWAM, in Rwanda. Partnering with the organization’s existing work with local street kids and at-risk youths, we produced MUNYRANGABO as a project for a class of fifteen Rwandan students, allowing genocide orphans, returned refugees, the undereducated, and those barely making a living to become the cast and crew of MUNYURANGABO.

~ A Manifestation of our Encounters

Samuel Anderson wrote most of the script back home, with the understanding that the story would evolve to the truths we would eventually discover in Rwanda. After arriving in the country, our script became a nine-page outline, a manifestation of our encounters—from personal stories and concerns to passing conversations and reflections. The minimal outline allowed us to improvise scenes and all of the dialogue.

~ Improvisation

With directing, I am a strong believer in improvisation; I know the general form of the film I want to make, but I’m not sure how I will get from the beginning to the end. This requires a greater level of listening—to surroundings, actors, crew, and inspiration. I don’t think that this immediacy would be available to me if I relied heavily on the writing process. Instead of shaping the reality of the circumstances to that script, improvisation demands the opposite. Working in Rwanda reinforced this approach to filmmaking, since the exotic nature of the location left us with no other choice. As a result, I’ve learned through this film that filmmaking should be a little like jazz, in that one should work with how the materials, circumstances, problems, and epiphanies come; it’s a dynamic process that leaves no room for regret.

~ Recreating Memories

Our cast of non-professional actors inspired many elements of the script, and directing was often a work of recreating their lives. Naturally, this is a film that focuses on memory, a collective one, and it was a quest to discover spiritual elements within memory.

~ Rural Locations

Rwanda has seen a fair number of Western filmmakers who throw large sums of cash around; we simply didn’t have those resources, but the assumption for many city officials was that we had lots of money. We considered filming many of our scenes in the streets of Kigali, but because of bureaucracy (difficulty in getting permits, for example), we focused our story on rural locations.

~ Shot in Eleven Days

Our village location was also quite genuine. We found a location we liked, spoke with the owners of the little house, and even auditioned them for roles. They were remarkable actors, so we decided to give them a large part in the film as the parents of Sangwa. We filmed over the course of eleven days, with the cast and crew all living together and working passionately for this project. It is fair to say that through the experience we became a family—I adopted them, but more accurately, they adopted me.

~ First Feature Film in Kinyarwanda

MUNYUNRANGABO is the first narrative feature film ever made in the Kinyarwanda language. Directing in a foreign country and in a language I do not speak was actually an advantage, forcing me to work as an outsider. This guards against the conveyance of any personal ideas and truths that are relatively minor, allowing, instead, for an exploration of more universal matters that can connect a Korean American with a Rwandan. I hope that this connection would extend to you, the viewer.

~ Return to Kigali

Our new company, Almond Tree Films, continues to labor for Rwandan cinema, hoping that the next Rwandan film to play at Cannes will be directed by a native filmmaker. On the foundation of MUNYURANGABO, we will return to Kigali this summer to establish a cinema school and production center, working for our hope to become a reality.

Contact Us

2009-04-23T14:14:00.000-07:00

To host a screening, or for answers to any questions about Munyurangabo, please contact:
Cambria Matlow
cambria@filmmovement.com
212-941-7744 x205

Film Movement is a New York City-based distributor of foreign and independent film.
For more information, please visit:
www.filmmovement.com
info@filmmovement.com

Find A Screening

2009-04-23T13:39:00.000-07:00

~ April, 3rd - Cleveland

Hosted by:	Film Movement
Where:	The Cleveland Museum Of Art
When:	Friday, April 3rd

~ April, 16th - Minneapolis

Hosted by:	Film Movement
Where:	Minneapolis International Film Festival
When:	Thursday, April 16th until Thursday, April 30th.

~ May, 7th - Baltimore

Hosted by:	Film Movement
Where:	Maryland Film Festival
When:	Thursday, May 7th until Sunday, May 10th.

~ May, 24th - Brooklyn

Hosted by:	Film Movement
Where:	BAM
When:	Sunday, May 24th.

~ May, 29th - New York City

Hosted by:	Film Movement
Where:	Anthology Film Archives
When:	Friday, May 29th until June 4th.

*Special Group Rate for NGO’s, Students, Churches, etc.*
$6//person for groups of 10 or more

Director Lee Isaac Chung and Co-Producer/Co-Writer Samuel Anderson will be present to introduce the film and do a Q & A on Friday and Saturday evenings.

~ June, 12th - San Francisco

Hosted by:	Film Movement
Where:	SF Film Society
When:	Friday, June 12th until Thursday, June 18th.

~ June, 26th - Seattle

Hosted by:	Film Movement
Where:	NW Film Forum
When:	Friday, June 26th until Thursday, July 2nd

~ July, 24th - Chicago

Hosted by:	Film Movement
Where:	Facets
When:	Friday, July 24th until Thursday, July 30th

In Association with Hotel Rwanda Rusesabagina Fundation

~ August, 7th - Santa Fe

Hosted by:	Film Movement
Where:	The Screen
When:	Friday, August 7th until Thursday, August 20th

~ September, 4th - Boston

Hosted by:	Film Movement
Where:	Museum of Fine Arts
When:	Friday, September 4th until Friday, September 11th

~ September, 18th - Washington

Hosted by:	Film Movement
Where:	AFI Silver
When:	Friday, September 18th until Thursday, September 24th

~ October, 9th - San Diego

Hosted by:	Film Movement
Where:	Gaslamp 15 (Reading Cinemas)
When:	Friday, October 9th until Friday, October 16th

Awards & Festivals

2009-04-23T09:36:00.000-07:00

~ Winner

Grand Jury Prize, American Film Institute Festival
Best First Film, Mexico City International Contemporary Film Festival
Best Narrative Feature, Sarasota Film Festival
Peace and Cultural Understanding Award, Wine Country Film Festival
SIGNAS Award, Amiens International Film Festival

~ Nominated

Breakthrough Director, Gotham Awards
Someone to Watch, Independent Spirit Awards

~ Official Selection

Cannes Film Festival (Un Certain Regards)
Berlin International Film Festival
Toronto International Film Festival
New Directors / New Films
Pusan International Film Festival
Rotterdam International Film Festival
Sao Paulo International Film Festival
London International Film Festival
Sarajevo International Film Festival
Flanders International Film Festival
Thessaloniki International Film Festival
Buenos Aires International Film Festival
Durban International Film Festival

Opening Night Party

2009-04-23T07:45:00.000-07:00

~ OPENING NIGHT PARTY, FRIDAY MAY 29 ~

Please join Film Movement, Director Lee Isaac Chung, Writer/Co-Producer Samuel Anderson, and friends! The party will celebrate Munyurangabo’s achievement, and also serve as a gathering place for committed organizations and interested individuals to raise awareness about their work and discuss their personal connection to the film. Attending organizations will be listed as event co-sponsors, and noted individuals will be listed as guests of honor. Please let us know if you’d like to attend, and co-sponsor the opening night festivities! Free admission.

OPENING NIGHT PARTY – 9:30pm
Kush Lounge
191 Chrystie Street
New York, New York 10002
www.kushlounge.com

If interested in attending, co-sponsoring or for answers to any questions related to this event,
Please contact:

Cambria Matlow
cambria@filmmovement
212-941-7744 x205

* Event Co-Sponsors

Orphans of Rwanda
Founded in 2004, Orphans of Rwanda, Inc. (ORI) is a nonprofit organization that provides university scholarships to orphans and vulnerable young people in Rwanda. The 160 talented students we support have overcome tremendous challenges as a result of the 1994 genocide and diseases such as HIV/AIDS, and they are united by a desire to create a brighter future for themselves and for their country. ORI invests in these promising leaders – providing them with housing, tutoring, computer training, healthcare, and other holistic support – so that they will be prepared to create meaningful and lasting change in Rwanda.

* Guests of Honor
Lee Isaac Chung, Munyurangabo Director
Samuel Anderson, Munyurangabo Writer/Co-Producer

Stills

2009-04-16T12:10:00.000-07:00

Synopsis

2009-04-16T12:09:00.000-07:00

After stealing a machete from a market in Kigali, Munyurangabo and his friend, Sangwa, leave the city on a journey tied to their pasts. Munyurangabo wants justice for his parents who were killed in the genocide, and Sangwa wants to visit the home he deserted years ago. Though they plan to visit Sangwa's home for just a few hours, the boys stay for several days. From two separate ethnic groups, their friendship is tested when Sangwa's wary parents disapprove of Munyurangabo, warning that "Hutus and Tutsis are supposed to be enemies."

Rwanda / US | 2007 | Kinyarwanda with English Subtitles | 97 min.

Trailer

2009-04-16T12:08:00.001-07:00