BACK HOME

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.

Long Note:
Imagine surviving genocide, being rescued, and starting a new life in a new land withoutknowing what happened to the family you left behind. This is the true inspiring story of J.B. Rutagarama.

Escaping Rwanda alive was a miracle. But after moving to the West, J.B. decides he mustjourney back to his troubled homeland to search for his lost family. With devastatingfootage interspersed with his remembrances, we get a uniquely intimate perspective onwhat became a world tragedy. As J.B. sets foot back in the land of his birth, an unexpected dramatic reunion occurs that will send your emotions soaring.

Shot with an eye for the natural beauty ofa cherished homeland, Rutagarama's film isdeeply personal -- yet becomes the story of all Rwandans. And in the process it offers auniversal lesson in healing, hope, renewal, family, forgiveness -- and finding your own peace.
-Natalie McMenemy

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).

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