My Neighbor My Killer is a production of Gacaca Productions (2009).
Directed and produced by Anne Aghion and edited by Nadia Ben Rachid.
80 minutes. Stereo. DVD-R. NTSC or PAL. English or French subtitles. Educational sales include public performance rights. Inquire about digital rights.
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Award-winning film series on Gacaca justice in Rwanda

My Neighbor My Killer is the culmination of ten years of documenting Gacaca justice in Rwanda. This feature length documentary film spans the trilogy: Gacaca, Living Together Again in Rwanda? Follow the first steps in one of the world’s boldest experiments in reconciliation. Unesco Felini Prize winner. (55', 2002) In Rwanda we say...The family that does not speak dies The second film looks at the impact of the return of a prisoner to his community before his trial. Emmy Award-winner. (54', 2004) The Notebooks of Memory The third film focuses on tribunals of local citizen-judges weighing survivor accounts of the massacres against the testimony of perpetrators. (53', 2009)

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Could you ever forgive the people who slaughtered your family? In 1994, hundreds of thousands of Rwandan Hutus were incited to wipe out the country’s Tutsi minority. From the crowded capital to the smallest village, local ‘patrols’ massacred lifelong friends and family members, most often with machetes and improvised weapons. Announced in 2001, and ending this year, the government put in place the Gacaca Tribunals—open-air hearings with citizen-judges meant to try their neighbors and rebuild the nation. As part of this experiment in reconciliation, confessed genocide killers are sent home from prison, while traumatized survivors are asked to forgive them and resume living side-by-side. Filming for close to a decade in a tiny hamlet, award-winning filmmaker Anne Aghion has charted the impact of Gacaca on survivors and perpetrators alike. Through their fear and anger, accusations and defenses, blurry truths, inconsolable sadness, and hope for life renewed, she captures the emotional journey to coexistence.

"Brilliant" — One of the Best Documentaries of 2009
—Jennifer Merin, About.com: Documentaries
“Deeply Moving”—Ann Hornaday, The Washington Post
“Remarkable”—Lee Marshall, Screen International
“Excellent”—Peter Brunette, Hollywood Reporter
“Quietly devastating”—Kenneth Turan, LA Times
“An historic document of incalculable value, but also a superbly shot work of cinema”—Agence France Presse
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Read the Jan 12, 2010 New York Times movie review: "Side by Side, With the Guilty, After Courts Send Them Home" by Jeannette Catsoulis. Go >

The New York Times Arts page featuring Director Anne Aghion. "Rwandans Judging Genocide, Their Way." Read it @ www.nytimes.com or pdf >

Anne Aghion talks with the BBC's Tom Brook on Talking Movies. Learn more about the film in this 3 minute video. Watch the video >

Anne Aghion on Genocide Survivor Testimony in Documentary Film panel @ USC's Visible Evidence Conference. Watch the video >

Watch the Voice of America video on this project, Rwandan Survivors' Testimony, Judgment Upon Killers. Watch the video >

BBC Outlook: Recovering from genocide. Anne Aghion talks about Gacaca justice in Rwanda. Listen to the interview (mp3) >

AFP: Rwandan genocide film aims to promote reconciliation abroad. Kigali premiere of My Neighbor My Killer. Read the article >