Genocide Film to Premiere in Rwanda

'Shooting Dogs' will screen in front of a vast audience of locals, many of whom helped make the movie.

Feb 17 2005

A film about the Rwandan genocide of 1994 is to have it's premiere at the country's main stadium later this year.

'Shooting Dogs', which details the massacre that took place at a secondary school in Kigali after the UN had abandoned it, will be screened in front of a vast audience of locals sometime this May.

The film, which was directed by Michael Caton-Jones ('Scandal', 'Rob Roy') and stars John Hurt and Hugh Dancy, was filmed on location in the city, and was made with the participation of many of the genocide's survivors.

'I am very excited by what we have achieved,' explains Caton-Jones, 'It's a piece of work of which I am immensely proud and I am looking forward very much to returning to Kigali to show it to the people who were son instrumental in making it happen.'

Joseph Habineza, Rwanda's Minister of Culture, says the production means a lot to the people of Rwanda. 'I am delighted that "Shooting Dogs" will be shown in Kigali', he adds. 'The filmmaking was a most rewarding experience for the thousands of Rwandans who participated. The story that is told in the film is an important contribution to this country's recent history and I believe can help in the process of reconciliation that we have been building in Rwanda for more than a decade.'

'Shooting Dogs' will be released in the UK later in the year.