Rwandan filmmaker Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo made historical past on Saturday, Could 23, after profitable the celebrated Caméra d’Or on the 2026 Cannes Movie Pageant for her debut characteristic movie Ben’Imana.
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The award, often known as the Golden Digicam, is introduced to the perfect first characteristic movie throughout all Cannes picks, together with the Official Choice, Administrators’ Fortnight, and Critics’ Week. It’s extensively thought to be one of the vital prestigious honours for rising filmmakers worldwide.
Ben’Imana additionally turned the primary movie directed by a Rwandan filmmaker to display within the pageant’s official choice after premiering within the Un Sure Regard part on Could 19.
Set in Rwanda in 2012, the movie follows Vénéranda, a survivor of the 1994 Genocide in opposition to the Tutsi who’s concerned in community-led justice and reconciliation efforts. As strain mounts in her skilled life, a disaster inside her household forces her to confront the boundaries of forgiveness and reconciliation.
The movie explores the emotional burden carried by survivors and the complexities surrounding forgiveness in post-genocide Rwanda.
Dusabejambo spent greater than a decade growing the undertaking by way of a number of worldwide movie labs and co-production programmes, together with Much less Is Extra, La Fabrique Cinéma, Atlas Workshops, and Ouaga Movie Lab. The undertaking additionally acquired assist from the Berlinale World Cinema Fund and Norway’s Sørfond.
The movie was produced by Ejo Cine Ltd in Rwanda and Princesse M Prod in Gabon, in co-production with Les Movies du Bilboquet in France and Duo Movie in Norway.
Accepting the award throughout the Cannes closing ceremony, Dusabejambo devoted the honour to the ladies whose tales impressed the movie.
“To obtain this Golden Digicam Award at Cannes for a primary movie is an immense wave of gratitude,” she mentioned.
“I needed to make this movie as a result of I needed to pay tribute to the ladies of my nation — girls who, by way of horror, discovered the energy to face up with dignity, to forgive, and to maneuver ahead, even painfully.”
She additionally described making a primary characteristic movie as “leaping into the void,” including that the assist of collaborators and the broader movie neighborhood helped deliver the undertaking to life.
The award was introduced by Canadian filmmaker Monia Chokri.
