''A Sunday in Kigali'' (original French title: ''Un dimanche à Kigali'') is a 2006 Canadian feature film set during the Rwandan genocide. It is directed by

Robert Favreau Robert Favreau (born July 9, 1948) is a Canadian film director and film editor. His film ''Les muses orphelines'' earned him Genie Award and Jutra Award The Prix Iris is a Canadian film award, presented annually by Québec Cinéma, whic ...

based on the novel '' A Sunday at the pool in Kigali'' by Gil Courtemanche.

Plot

Bernard Valcourt, a documentary filmmaker, and journalist, sets off to Kigali to film a documentary about AIDS. He gets caught up in the turmoil of horrific events involving

Hutu The Hutu (), also known as the Abahutu, are a Bantu ethnic or social group which is native to the African Great Lakes region. They mainly live in Rwanda, Burundi and the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, where they form one of the p ...

s and

Tutsi The Tutsi (), or Abatutsi (), are an ethnic group of the African Great Lakes region. They are a Bantu-speaking ethnic group and the second largest of three main ethnic groups in Rwanda and Burundi (the other two being the largest Bantu ethnic ...

s that tragically leads to genocide. During his stay at the Hôtel des Mille Collines, Valcourt falls in love with a beautiful, shy waitress named Gentille. Gentille serves drinks to the diplomats, officials, and Rwandan bourgeoisie who surround the hotel swimming pool every Sunday. While Valcourt's longing for Gentille increases, the country moves toward civil war, and the brutal violence of the

Rwandan genocide The Rwandan genocide occurred between 7 April and 15 July 1994 during the Rwandan Civil War. During this period of around 100 days, members of the Tutsi minority ethnic group, as well as some moderate Hutu and Twa, were killed by armed H ...

separates them. A few months go by and Bernard returns to Rwanda, frantically seeking Gentille in the midst of the chaos. Most of the narrative unfolds in retrospect.

Release

''A Sunday in Kigali'' grossed $1.1 million Canadian in Quebec in the fall of 2006, and is set for September 23 release in English-speaking Canada. Video and cable are the best options in other territories.

Cast

Luc Picard Luc Picard (born 24 September 1961) is a French Canadian actor, director and comedian. He was born on September 24, 1961, in Lachine, Quebec, Canada. He has played numerous characters in diverse roles. Early life and education Picard was bor ...

as Bernard Valcourt * Fatou N'Diaye as Gentille *

Vincent Bilodeau Vincent Bilodeau (born August 11, 1951) is a French Canadian actor and comedian from Quebec. Career Vincent Bilodeau appeared in many feature films including ''A Sunday in Kigali'' in 2006. Private life He is the brother of Yvon Bilodeau and the ...

as Father Cardinal * Céline Bonnier as Élise * Geneviève Brouillette as Consule * Alice Isimbi *Fayolle Jean as Victor *

Maka Kotto Maka Kotto (born December 7, 1961) is a Cameroonian-born French-Canadian politician. Educated in France, Kotto immigrated to Quebec, Canada, where he was an educator before entering politics. Kotto was a Parti Québécois member of the National A ...

as Manu *Louise Laparé as Manu's Wife * Alexis Martin as Lamarre * Luck Mervil as Raphaël *Mireille Metellus as Agathe *Luc Proulx as Father Louis * Guy Thauvette as Lt. Roméo Dallaire *Erwin Weche as D.J. Rock * Léonce Ngabo as Maurice *Jean-Chris Banange as Odeste *Natacha Muziramakenga as Emerita *Eric Kabanda as Cyprien *Amélie Chérubin Soulières as Mathilde *Jean de la Paix Hategekimana as Cyprien's cousin *Valentin Utaruhijimana as Célestin *Johanna Ingabiré as Désirée *Aline Muhora as Georgina *Jean Mutsari as Jean Damascène *Diane Nyiraparasi as Berthe

Reception

Box office

Eight weeks into its release, Robert Favreau's Rwandan genocide drama is the first Quebecois film of 2006 to pass the CAN $1m benchmark at the local box office.

Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film has an approval rate of 88% based on 59 reviews. The sites' critical consensus reads, "A strident, well-meaning film that makes the mistake of doing all our thinking and feeling for us."

Geoff Pevere Geoff Pevere (born October 1957) is a Canadian lecturer, author, broadcaster, teacher, arts and media critic, currently the program director of the Rendezvous With Madness Film Festival in Toronto.John Semley, "Can we play with madness?: Toronto' ...

give the film a 2 out of 4 rating, stating "here's something about the idea of weeping over a single love affair ... while hundreds of thousands are being slaughtered that verges on its own form of myopic irresponsibility." Writer for ''Variety'' Robert Koehler also gave it 2 out of 4 stars and said: "Pic is truly undone by a bizarre structure that constantly cuts between the timeframe before the 100-day massacre and the aftermath."

Accolades

Since its release, the film has been nominated for 42 festivals and awards. ;Won : 2006 Marrakech International Film Festival – Best Actress ( Fatou N'Diaye) : 2007 Genie Awards – Best Screenplay, Adapted (

, Gil Courtemanche) : 2007 Jutra Awards 2007 – Best Sound (Claude La Haye, Hans Peter Strobl & Marie-Claude Gagné) ;Nominated : 2006 Marrakech International Film Festival - Golden Star (

) : 2007 Genie Awards – Best Motion Picture (

Lyse Lafontaine Lyse Lafontaine (born 1942) is a Canadian film producer known for working with directors Jean-Claude Lauzon and Xavier Dolan. She works at Lyla Films in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Early life Born to '' La Presse'' reporter Gaston Lafontaine, Lyse ...

& Michael Mosca) : 2007 Genie Awards – Best Achievement in Costume Design (Michèle Hamel) : 2007 Genie Awards – Best Achievement in Direction (

) : 2007 Genie Awards – Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role (

) : 2007 Genie Awards – Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role ( Fatou N'Diaye) : 2007 Genie Awards – Best Achievement in Overall Sound (Hans Peter Strobl,

Jo Caron Jocelyn "Jo" Caron is a Canadian production sound mixer. He was nominated in the 28th Genie Awards for a Genie Award for Best Achievement in Overall Sound for '' Shake Hands with the Devil'' (shared with Eric Fitz, Gavin Fernandes, Benoit Leduc). ...

, Claude La Haye, Benoit Leduc,

Bernard Gariépy Strobl Bernard Gariépy Strobl is a Canadian re-recording sound mixer, best known internationally as the supervising re-recording mixer of '' Arrival'' (2016), for which he won the BAFTA Award for Best Sound (shared with Claude La Haye and Sylvain Belle ...

) : 2007 Genie Awards – Best Achievement in Sound Editing (Marie-Claude Gagné, Guy Francoeur, Claire Pochon, Jean-Philippe Savard) : 2007 Jutra Awards 2007 – Best Film (

& Michael Mosca) ;More Festivals and Awards: *

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a perman ...

(Canada): September 2006 *

Atlantic Film Festival FIN: Atlantic International Film Festival (known as The Atlantic International Film Festival until 2017) is a major international film festival held annually in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada since 1980. FIN is the largest Canadian film festival ...

(Canada): September 2006 *

Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival, also known as Cinéfest and Cinéfest Sudbury is an annual film festival in Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada,"Cinefest provides cultural landmark". ''Sudbury Star'', September 16, 1999. held over nine ...

(Canada): September 2006 *

Vancouver International Film Festival The Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF) is an annual film festival held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, for two weeks in late September and early October. The festival is operated by the Greater Vancouver International Film Fest ...

(Canada): October 2006 *

Busan International Film Festival The Busan International Film Festival (BIFF, previously Pusan International Film Festival, PIFF), held annually in Haeundae-gu, Busan (''also'' Pusan), South Korea, is one of the most significant film festivals in Asia. The first festiv ...

(South Korea): October 2006 *Franzoesiche Filmtage, Tuebingen (Germany): November 2006 *Festival des Films Francophone du Manitoba – Cinémental (Canada): November 2006 *Festival International du Film Francophone de Tuebingen-Stuttgart (Germany): November 2006 *

Windsor International Film Festival The Windsor International Film Festival (WIFF) is a cultural, charitable organization whose mission is to recognize and celebrate the art of cinema by showcasing Canadian and International films and filmmakers. When the festival first took place, ...

(Canada): November 2006 *Cape Town World Cinema Festival (South Africa): November 2006 *Johannesburg Film Festival South Africa (South Africa): November 2006 *Semaine du Cinéma Canadien (Senegal): November 2006 *Festival du Québec à Paris (France): November 2006 *

Pan African Film Festival Pan African Film Festival (PAFF) is a non-profit corporation in Los Angeles, California, that states its goal is to promote "cultural understanding among peoples of African descent" through exhibiting art and film. It hosts a film festival and an ar ...

(USA): February 2007 *Brazzaville Film Festival (Congo): 2007 *Fédération des Francophones du Saskatoon (Canada): February 2007 *Kalamazoo Francophone Film Festival (USA): March 2007 *Maputo Film Festival (Mozambique): September 2007 *Lusaka Film Festival (Zambia): November 2007 *Alger Film Festival (Algeria): December 2007 *Seattle Film Festival (USA): June/July 2007 * Stony Brook Film Festival (USA): July 2007 *Festival El Cine in Lima (Peru): August 2007 *Les 25e Rendez-vous du Cinéma Québécois (Canada): February 2007 *Bermuda International Film Festival (Bermuda): March 2007 – The 10th edition of the Bermuda International Film Festival came to a close when the French Canadian film "A Sunday in Kigali" won the Bacardi Limited Audience Choice Award. *Tiburon International Film Festival (USA): March 2007 *Semaine de la Francophonie 2007, Boston Mars 2007 / Athènes Mars 2007 / New York Avril 2007 *

Phoenix Film Festival Phoenix Film Festival is a festival that celebrates feature films and their creators. Started in 2000, the annual celebration takes place in the city of Phoenix, Arizona. The festival is a showcase for feature and short films from all over the wo ...

(USA): April 2007 – Peoples Choice & Best Feature Film *Kinshasa Film Festival (Congo): June 2007 *FÉMI Festival International du Cinéma de la Guadeloupe (Guadeloupe): January 2007

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sunday In Kigali 2006 films Films directed by Robert Favreau Canadian drama films Films based on Canadian novels Rwandan genocide films 2006 drama films French-language Canadian films 2000s Canadian films