19/05/2026 - CANNES 2026: Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo debuts with a powerfully emotional first feature film which is firmly anchored in the post-genocide reality of Rwanda

"What kind of justice can satisfy the questions that are paining me deep in my heart?" It’s 2012 and we’re in the district of Kibeho. Almost 18 years on from the 1994 genocide, a national policy has been introduced to attempt to reconcile and reunify Rwanda by organising Gacaca trials, along the "he said, she said" tradition. Will the truth emerge? Is forgiveness really possible? And what truth can there be when "there are things that can’t be said, things buried deep inside of our very being, things we can’t forget." This is the sensitive subject to which Marie-Clémentine Dusabejambo has chosen to dedicate her brilliant first feature film, Ben'Imana (discovered in the 79th Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard section), which methodically and intelligently explores the many facets, paradoxes, and visible and invisible consequences of these matters, but which first and foremost brings them to life by way of several incredibly powerful female characters.

"It’s a journey through our own selves towards understanding, which liberates and heals wounded souls: forgiveness is the key", "Why do you keep on with your rubbish theories about forgiveness? Forgiveness is a personal thing, you can’t negotiate over it or buy it". Sisters Veneranda (Clémentine U. Nyirinkindi) and Suzanne (Isabelle Kabano) have diametrically opposed ideas about how to go about finding the people responsible for massacring their family. In fact, the former organises meetings between the women in the village to "prepare testimonies for the trial and to avoid public humiliation": "here, with us, you can cry, shout; you’re free to express yourselves." But such freedom of expression is far from easy when terrible acts have been committed, to which people have turned a blind eye, or when the painful memory of suffering fuels madness and a thirst for revenge. It’s an emotional maelstrom, which is further complicated by the desire for emancipation felt by the newer generations – Veneranda’s daughter Tina (Kesia Kelly Nishimwe), leading the charge – who want to love without discrimination but who find themselves wrestling with ghosts and the backbreaking legacy of the past ("that night, half the village perished. Some people killed, others were killed. We lost the meaning of life. This village is a graveyard").

"Say what you saw and heard." It’s around this narrative principle that the director has penned her particularly well-thought-out screenplay, alternating between scenes from the people’s court, meetings between the women in the hope of getting them to talk, and family issues impacting Veneranda, Suzanne and Tina (without forgetting Arivere Kagoyire as the mute grandmother). It’s a full 360° approach which allows the filmmaker to shine penetrating light on the many angles of this tragedy and the multifaceted pain that still endures today, and to deliver a remarkable film, thanks not least to her actors’ convincing performances.

Ben'Imana was produced by Ejo-Cine (Rwanda) and Princesse M Productions (Gabon), in co-production with Les Films du Bilboquet (France) and Duo Film (Norway). mk2 Films are handling world sales.

(Translated from French)