Matière grise

Credits

Name: Matière grise

Country: Ruanda

Year of publication: 2011

Format: Blu-ray

Color: color

Language : OF m. dt. UT

Duration: 110 Minuten

Direction: Ruhorahoza, Kivu

Screenplay: Ruhorahoza, Kivu

Camera: Wegner, Ari

Editing: Ribeiro, Antonio Rui

Sound: Safari, Eugène

Actor: Bizimana, Ramadhan; Kimenyi, Hervé; Muziramakenga, Natasha; Nirere, Ruth

Abstract

Balthazar is a young African filmmaker about to complete his first project. Titled “The cycle of the cockroach”, the film follows a fictional plot about a young woman who has suffered terrible abuse only to find herself in the same psychiatric hospital as her perpetrator. Balthazar fails to find a sponsor for his project but continues to put all he has into realising his vision. As he keeps working away on his film, slowly but surely the borders between reality and fiction start to blur. Matière Grise offers a rare insight into the “burden of survival” after the Rwandan Genocide. Director Kivu Ruhorahoza delivers a captivating account of how deeply the traumatic experiences have shocked the survivors and how they are trying to work through their traumas.