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Selection Amnesty International Film Festival. Hotel Rwanda Director: Terry George South Africa/England/Italy, 2004, Feature film, Dutch subtitles , 110 minutes Three Oscar nominations, first screening in the Netherlands During the 1994 Rwanda genocide, hotel manager Paul Rusesabagina, a Hutu, offers shelter to more than 1,000 Tutsi refugees. ‘We don’t waste bullets on cockroaches’, says a Hutu warrior, who proceeds to beat an unarmed man to death. When the genocide breaks loose, the first thing Paul Rusesabagina, the manager of the most luxurious hotel in the capital, thinks is how he can save his own Tutsi wife and their child. As it becomes clear to him that no international aid is to be expected, he starts helping more and more people. While foreigners are being evacuated in great haste, Rusesabagina, at the risk of his own life, offers 1,200 people refuge in his hotel. During the 100 days that refugees stay in the hotel, over half a million Tutsis and moderate Hutus are murdered. The people in the hotel also become aware of the atrocities taking place. ‘Perhaps you think we cannot kill them all’, a Hutu officer asks. ‘We already are halfway there.’ The cast of this film, which is true to reality, includes such international stars as Don Cheadle, Nick Nolte and Joaquin Phoenix. Hundreds of survivors of the genocide had the courage to appear in the film and re-enact the events. Hotel Rwanda has won awards at various film festivals and has received three Oscar nominations: for best original screenplay, best actor (Don Cheadle) and best female supporting role (Sophie Okanado). Screening dates Subject to change 9-03-2005, 20:00, sold out Pathé Tuschinski 10-03-2005, 20:00 Filmmuseum Calypso 1 12-03-2005, 13:00 Filmmuseum Calypso 1 Hotel Rwanda As unconcerned as the international community was about the genocide in Rwanda in 1994, as interested the international film industry is now. The Berlin film festival included Sometimes in April in the competition programme, a film starring Raoul Peck and Debra Winger. Hotel Rwanda, featuring among others Don Cheadle, Joaquin Phoenix and Nick Nolte was nominated for three Oscars. More films on Rwanda are in the making. The Amnesty International Film Festival and the Human Rights Watch Film Festival in London have divided the output evenly. The English human rights film festival opens mid-March with Sometimes in April. Hotel Rwanda is the opening film in Amsterdam on 9 March. Rwanda has appeared to become a byword for genocide. Hotel Rwanda tells the terrible story of a poverty-stricken country where people are being driven into churches to be burnt alive. Driven into squares to be slaughtered with machetes. This reality cannot be denied, because it has been well documented. Tens of thousands of pages have been published on the subject in books, reports and studies by the UN and human rights organisations. Now this reality has been turned into a film. Hotel Rwanda tells the true story of hotel manager Paul Rusesabagina. During the massacre of the Tutsis, Hutu Rusesabagina shelters thousands of Tutsi refugees in his hotel. The Canadian commander of the UN Peacekeeping Force, Roméo Dallaire, is powerless. Despite his pleas for more troops, he gets no support from the UN. In the heat of the battle Paul Rusesabagina also fights for his own life and that of his (Tutsi) wife and child. Hotel Rwanda director Terry George manages to do the hell at that time justice in a sweltering drama, without representing it explicitly. The cast of Hotel Rwanda consists of international stars like Don Cheadle, Nick Nolte, Sophie Okonedo and Joaquin Phoenix. Hundreds of genocide survivors have had the courage to play out the events as extras. Together the producers make the international community look foolish. It is impossible not be embarrassed by the accusation this film represents. Even without the longing for an answer to the difficult question of how should be responded to such hotbeds, like the one in Darfur now. This dilemma will inevitably come up during the festival. Terry George and the “real” Paul Rusesabagina are special festival guests. The Dutch premiere of Hotel Rwanda will be on the opening night of the Amnesty International Film Festival, at an extra Amnesty International Hotel Rwanda Gala in the Amsterdam Tuschinski theatre. Part of the proceeds will go to an Amnesty project in Rwanda and neighbouring countries Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Besides Hotel Rwanda, the festival will show two startling documentaries about Roméo Dallaire (UN commander in Rwanda at the time): Shake Hands with the Devil and The Last Just Man. Hotel Rwanda – interview and debate Thu. March 10th: 20.00 - FM Calypso 1 Marcia Luyten will interview Paul Rusesabagina and Terry George after the screening Sat. March 12th: 13.00 - FM Calypso 1