Joël Karekezi (born 12 December 1985) is a Rwandan screenwriter, film director and film producer. His

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

''The Pardon'', about reconciliation after 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 ...

against

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 ...

in 1994, won the Golden Impala award at the Amakula Film Festival in Uganda. A feature version was made in 2011, and shown at the

Göteborg International Film Festival Göteborg Film Festival (GFF), formerly Göteborg International Film Festival (GIFF), known in English as the Gothenburg Film Festival, formerly Gothenburg International Film Festival, is an annual film festival in Gothenburg, Sweden and the la ...

, and later at other international film festivals including

Seattle International Film Festival The Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF), held annually in Seattle, Washington since 1976, is among the top film festivals in North America. Audiences have grown steadily; the 2006 festival had 160,000 attendees. The SIFF runs for more th ...

(2013),

Chicago International Film Festival The Chicago International Film Festival is an annual film festival held every fall. Founded in 1964 by Michael Kutza, it is the longest-running competitive film festival in North America. Its logo is a stark, black and white close up of the comp ...

and

FESPACO The Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (Festival panafricain du cinéma et de la télévision de Ouagadougou or FESPACO) is a film festival in Burkina Faso, held biennially in Ouagadougou, where the organization is based. It ...

Life and education

Karekezi was born in

Rubavu Rubavu District is one of the seven districts of the country district (''akarere'') in Western Province, Rwanda. Its capital is Gisenyi, It has a large beach resort and border city. It has a total surface area of 388.3 Km2. Geography The dist ...

, Rwanda. His father died during the

Rwanda 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 Hutu ...

against the

in 1994, after this event he took refuge in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) where he found one of his cousins. He learnt screenwriting at the Maisha Film Lab in 2009; he holds a diploma in film directing from the Canadian online film school CineCours.

Career

After attending the Maisha Film Lab, Karekezi directed his short film ''The Pardon'', which won The Golden Impala award at Amakula Film Festival in Uganda. In 2010 it was shown at the

Durban International Film Festival The Durban International Film Festival (DIFF) is an annual film festival that takes place in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa. Founded in 1979 by Teddy Sarkin and Ros Sarkin, it is the oldest and largest film festival in Africa and ...

, the Images That Matter Short Film Festival in Ethiopia, the Kenya International Film Festival, the

Zanzibar International Film Festival The Zanzibar International Film Festival (ZIFF), also known as Festival of the Dhow Countries, is an annual film festival held in Zanzibar, Tanzania and one of the largest cultural events in East Africa. ZIFF is a non-governmental organization est ...

and the Silicon Valley African Film Festival in California, where it won the Best Short Film award. Karekezi made a feature version, '' Imbabazi: The Pardon'', based on the same characters. It was made on a low budget and filmed in Uganda. In 2013 Karekezi was working on "Mercy of the Jungle", which was presented in the Fabrique des cinemas du Monde at the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

in 2013. The script of "Mercy of the Jungle" won the CFI Best Audiovisual Award for the most promising audiovisual project at the Durban FilmMart in 2012. His other films include: ''Les jeunes à la poursuite du travail'', 2009;''Survivor'', 2010; and ''Ntukazime Nararokotse'', 2010.

Personal life

Karekezi is fluent in French.

Filmography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Karekezi, Joel Living people Rwandan film directors 1985 births People from Rubavu District Maisha Film Lab alumni