Origin Country: Rwanda, USA
Runtime: 73 MIN
Presentation Format: Digibeta
DIR J.B. Rutagarama PROD Linda Vester DP J.B. Rutagarama, Daniel Elliott, Noelle Ingabire ED Todd Zelin, Gregory Bertrand MUS Rod Clemmons
Short Note:
BACK HOME is the first film about the Rwandan genocide made by an actual survivor.The true story of director J.B. Rutagarama, who was adopted by reporters as he fled the killings and given a new life, Rutagarama takes us along as he returns to his homeland toconfront what happened there.
Biography:
It may be a cruel irony that it took a war to introduce J.B. to filmmaking, but now hebelieves filmmaking is his destiny. As he observed TV news cameras filming thegenocide, he discovered the power of the moving image; he saw that it had the ability to touch people in a way nothing else can. From then on, he wanted a profession that gavehim the ability to look through the lens of a camera. After J.B. fled Rwanda, the two reporters who adopted him sent him to film school in England, where he graduated withhonors. Afterward, he moved to New York City and began working as a studiocameraman at a television network. J.B. is now a Steadicam operator, under the tutelageof two of the top names in the movie business: Cinematographer Bob Richardson (THE AVIATOR, KILL BILL, NATURAL BORN KILLERS, etc.) and Steadicam Operator LarryMcConkey (VANILLA SKY, MISSION IMPOSSIBLE, THREE KINGS).
Back to AFI Project: 20/20
