Itsembatsemba - Rwanda One Genocide Later

Starting in the spring of 1994, hundreds of thousands of Tutsis were slaughtered in Rwanda in a matter of months. This genocide was initially greeted with almost universal indifference on the world political stage. Until, that is, there was a flood of refugees and the conflict between the Hutus and Tutsis spread into neighboring countries. The international community was at a loss as to what to do. Two years after the mass murderer started, French photographer Alexis Cordesse went to report from Rwanda, where he captured powerful images of wrecked homes containing human remains, of bodies being buried, and of hesitant attempts at reconstruction. Against the aural backdrop of contemporary radio broadcasts, this documentary by Israeli filmmaker Eyal Sivan edits together the black-and-white photographs that breathe the bleak atmosphere of the time. The source of the broadcasts, Radio Télévision Libre Mille Collines, played a fundamental role in stirring up the death squads and coordinating the murders. After, Sivan made three more short documentaries on populations in danger, based on Cordesse's work in the hotbeds of Burundi, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Afghanistan.