The second edition of the Kigali Cine Junction Film Festival, organized by Imitana Production, a Kigali-based film production company, started August 1st-4th, with the theme of this year’s festival being “Black Aesthetics.”
Premiering with a powerful opening film titled “Banel and Adama”, the festival started with a poignant story of love, identity, culture, and societal challenges. The film revolves around an introverted man who falls in love with a passionate and rebellious woman. It was played in Fula, a Senegambian language spoken by around 36.8 million people, with English subtitles.
Attending the film brought back my childhood memories. It was sweet and sad like the village thriller stories called “Imigani” that they used to tell us before sleeping. The words that stood out to me were the last words of the film, where Banel said, “Back when we were kings, masters of ourselves, masters of the world, free. Today, who are we? Flesh, blood, and evil?” That’s how much the film touched me.
As mentioned before, this festival’s purpose is to celebrate black film aesthetics, provide a platform for cultural exchange, and establish Kigali as the cinema capital of Africa. The event started with a performance by Boukuru, who sang “Izuba Rirarenze”, translates to The Sun Sets. Her melodic voice was breathtaking as usual.
The second speech was given by Philbert Aime Mbabazi Sharangabo, one of the organizers. In his opening remarks, he said that cinema is a universal language, henceforth their reason for choosing the Car Free Zone, a public place, for everyone to be a part of it. He emphasized that cinema as an art form encapsulates time, bears witness to past lives and experiences, makes sense of the present, and imagines the future. He also highlighted the importance of celebrating the genesis of Rwandan cinema and the contributions of the Rwandan diaspora to the art form.
Speaking to SENS, Philbert Aime Mbabazi Sharangabo gave us the festival highlights, saying, “Our everyday routine will be different. On August 2, we have a romantic evening we call ‘Black Love on the Big Screen’ because the theme of the 1st and 2nd editions has been black aesthetics. So we want to see black stories on screen, and we want to talk about aesthetics in the cinema, not just the stories you are telling but how you are telling them.”
He continued, “On the third day, on Saturday, it will be a family evening with a film suitable for young audiences and their parents. On the closing day, we will premiere another film called ‘MAMI WATA.'”
After highlighting the festival, he shared his expectations to be a full house. That’s why they chose a public space to reach everyone.
When asked why the name Imitana, he explained, “There is a saying in Kinyarwanda which says, ‘Kora mu mitana wiyereke abatanazi,’ which means ‘Tell us about yourself.’ For us, cinema is a way to express ourselves and to exist even on the global stage.” He concluded by saying, “You know, people sometimes can be misunderstood, and when people make things about us, what about our points of view? Yes, we still have less equipment, but we still express ourselves ambitiously. Our ambition is not diminished by the fact that we have less.”
