Goethe-Centre screens The Pardon

To commemorate the 20th anniversary of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, Africavenir will present the Namibian premier of the Rwandan film Imbabazi – The Pardon, which will be screened at the Goethe-Centre Windhoek on 26 April 2014 at 19:00. Imbabazi – The Pardon is about best friends Manzi and Karemera who find themselves on the opposing sides in Rwanda’s ethnic civil war, with Tutsi Karemera’s family paying a horrific price for Manzi’s allegiance to his Hutu heritage. Manzi is elevated to the position of local leader, yet he is unable to withstand the peer pressure when the genocide begins. He kills Karemara’s father and younger brother. When Manzi is released from prison fifteen years later, his return opens old wounds.

Director of Imbabazi – The Pardon, Joel Karekezi, draws from his own experience as a survivor of Rwanda’s violence in creating this moving account of two former friends who must contend with the unimaginable horrors of their past. The film also switches between the present and the time just before and during the genocide.
In pursuing this film project, Joel Karekezi completes his personal mission to turn the pain inflicted on his family to new possibilities for Rwanda’s future, and his belief that forgiveness will open up new paths for a better and peaceful future of the country is still challenged by the lingering consequences and repercussions of a crime of unimaginable horror both in its extent and nature.
On 24 March 2014, the film was awarded the Nile Grand Award at the 3rd Luxor African Film Festival, and in February 2014 the film won Best Director and Best Film in A Thousand Hills Academy Awards. The screening is supported by AfriCine, WhatsOnWindhoek, the Goethe Centre and Turipamwe Designs. The entrance fee is N$30.