As We Forgive, the award-winning documentary set in post-genocide Rwanda, is an unscripted reality show of reconciliation. Within the most extreme of situations — women facing the killers who destroyed their families — it explores the question: do we have the courage to forgive and live together again?
Producer-director-editor Laura Waters Hinson took time to discuss her work upon returning from Rwanda, where As We Forgive premiered in the capital of Kigali at the national basketball stadium before an audience of 5,000 (asweforgivemovie.com).
How did the story of As We Forgive develop?
I didn’t go to Rwanda expecting to make a film. I was sent by my church to develop a program with a community there. When I arrived I began to hear about the government’s effort to put into practice a program of reconciliation, and I was wondering why I had never heard about this in the news — such a profound concept of genocide killers coming back from prison and facing the people whose families they had killed. The question became: can people forgive and live together again?
What has been the response of the Rwandan people to the documentary?
Showing the film to thousands of Rwandans and hearing their response was a dream come true. The audience was moved, and hundreds were motivated to ask themselves: is forgiveness possible, can we do this? Now the film is being used as a tool for reconciliation in the country.
How is the Rwandan government utilizing the film?
We received a grant from the John Templeton Foundation to do some outreach in Rwanda. With these funds we were able to build what we have called the As We Forgive Rwanda Initiative. We have gone to several agencies of the Rwandan government involved in reconciliation and some of the major non-governmental organizations and faith-based ministry organizations, like prison fellowship and world relief. They have each sent a representative to sit on the steering committee … in order to integrate As We Forgive into existing programs of reconciliation. They have requested that we visit the schools and prisons to do a program with the genocide prisoners still incarcerated and the villages. The project, for which the first lady has become a spokesperson, has led to the training of facilitators who engage the audience in a constructive dialogue following the screening.
One of President Paul Kagame’s top advisers, David Himbara, came to us to say, “How can I be your assistant in this?” All the major leaders in reconciliation and leaders of government have expressed their support and opened up the use of their staff and resources.
It keeps growing. Originally it was to be a four-month initiative, and now it is turning into a project of several years.
What has been the reaction of young Rwandans to the film?
The youth are a major focus of our program in Rwanda, because it is really their generation that has the choice of whether or not to carry on the legacy of hate and division of their parents’ and grandparents’ generation. They are incredibly responsive to this story.
They are trying to live it out right now.
Your last trip to Rwanda was in July. How was it?
We decided to film an epilogue to the movie. The story of John and Chantal, two of the movie’s protagonists, is left unfinished in the documentary. In July we went back to their village to film their entire reconciliation story. This epilogue will be incorporated into the DVD of As We Forgive and offered to groups who do screenings and discussions.
This final act of forgiveness on the part of Chantal has had a ripple effect throughout the community, and numerous other people in the village, who would have never been reconciled, have done so because they have seen John and Chantal’s forgiveness occur.
It was one of the best experiences of my life!
How has making As We Forgive shaped you as a filmmaker?
In film school I just learned the nuts and bolts of how to make a film. I didn’t learn a thing about social action campaigns. However, over the past four years I have learned just how powerful and influential a movie can be, if you give people the tools and are creative with it. Working on this documentary has convinced me that my films must be part of a comprehensive package — not just a film that goes to TV and theaters, but a movie that can change people’s lives, the way people think about things — a movie that can move people to action.
What has been your greatest satisfaction in doing this film?
The entire process of making this documentary, and the people whom I have encountered, has challenged the core of my beliefs. Do I really believe what I say I believe as a Christian? Do I really believe in forgiveness — that God is big enough to meet the genocide widow in her pain, suffering and despair, that he has the power to change the heart of a killer? Do I believe that he can unite a killer and survivor back together again as neighbors and friends?
In the end I have seen that yes, it is possible. I have found that my understanding of the God of the Universe has expanded, and I have witnessed what miracles can happen here on earth.
It has also given me the courage to talk about forgiveness in settings where God isn’t really popular — a boldness to say that there is really no other explanation for a killer and survivor of genocide to come back together again in unity outside of God, without prayer. It’s like the one topic that people don’t argue with you about, saying, “Yeah, that’s a miracle. I don’t know how to explain that either.” I love that this topic cuts through all skepticism and cynicism. It causes people to ponder the mysterious.
As We Forgive has changed almost everything about what I believe. It has given me so much more faith than I had before … together with the challenge to show it through my work and my relationships.
Mary Cass
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