- April 10th, 1994. Killers stormed a convent in of the small hill towns of Rwanda. They selected two hundred Tutsis from the group and executed them behind this convent. Behind This Convent is the story of from the point of view of survivors who have witnessed the darkest hour of the Rwandan genocide of 1994.—GILBERT NDAHAYO
- Behind This Convent represents an autobiographical attempt to come to term with the loss of those you loved, the post-traumatic challenge to be a survivor, the judicial system known as gacaca, the tension between personal and collective memory, the fracture between past and present, and the various social practices in which Tutsi survivors are engaged to rebuild themselves. Ndahayo's position, esthetic, and approach are unique not only because he is one of the rare survivors who filmed the trial of the killers of his family but because his film engages the viewer to think critically about the process of documenting the genocide from a judicial and cinematographic perspective. Furthermore, his technique of superimposition confers to his film a haunting quality that renders in a unique way the feeling of so many survivors. Behind This Convent immerses us in the gaze of a survivor and his never ending attempt to deal with loss and trauma. It is an endeavor where filming and editing one's past becomes an affirmation of one's own survival and voice within the present.
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