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Soon after acquiring Raoul Peck's "Lumumba," which aired on HBO in 2002, HBO Films president Colin Callender approached Peck about directing a film about the Rwandan genocide. Callender thought Peck was uniquely qualified to make the film authentic and to tell the story from the point of view of Rwandan characters who had experienced the genocide. He spoke with HBO Online from his home in Paris.
HBO:
How did the project come about?
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Raoul Peck behind the camera on the set of "Sometimes in April".
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"Very early on I started to get a feeling for the country, for the people, hearing their stories, spending time with them. By the second day, I knew that this story had to be told." |
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— Raoul Peck
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Raoul Peck:
When I started discussing this project with HBO, I was at first reluctant after "Lumumba" to plunge myself again into a heavy African story. I asked to go to Rwanda, see the people, talk with them and find out for myself. To which HBO agreed. And very early on I started to get a feeling for the country, for the people, hearing their stories, spending time with them. By the second day, I knew that this story had to be told and I knew as well there was more than enough material to write an original story based on "a million true stories."
Even though the form was not clear yet, I knew this story had to be very complex, multi-layered and accurate. Only so, would it be possible to give a real feel for what happened in Rwanda in 1994 and the following 10 years.
HBO:
The story of the brothers was something you created?
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Raoul Peck on set with star Idris Elba.
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Raoul Peck:
As a screenwriter, it's rare that you are in a position where whatever the dramatic construction you choose, the events you are depicting are so close to the truth. In some cases even the very exact action, image and words. The stories I gathered in Rwanda felt at times like real Shakespearian dramas. All the typical dramatic situations you know exist happened. But, in order to have a logical construction of my story, I had to connect the dots and my characters into the same emotional world. Thus at one point in the screenplay development the idea of linking these two men as brothers. And through this, I got the symbolic arc of a Caïn and Abel story of these two brothers who find themselves on two different side of the tragedy.
HBO:
Can you talk a little bit about how you were able to tell a much larger story through a more personal, character-based prism?
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"When I was the one to say, maybe we should stop, they were pushing me saying, 'no, let's do another take. Don't worry, we'll have time to cry. But the world, the rest of the world has to know this story.' And so we went to tell it." |
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— Raoul Peck
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Raoul Peck:
Well it's very important to me. Somehow, the production of this film was embedded in a bigger, comprehensive project, that would include solid research and the time to develop a story that we wanted to tell, and from the point of view of Rwandese characters. And I was very fortunate that the people working with me at HBO accepted to go through this more complicated track, which ultimately gave us such a strong movie. Throughout this arduous development process, Colin Collander, Kerry Putman and Sam Martin offered their strong support, their patience and wise collaborative eyes. They were always the ones saying, we can go further. Of course other friends and collaborators offer their support and insights as well.
It's a very productive way to work, and we were learning through that process. When we were bumping into walls we had to find ways to go above those walls and create solutions. I had the luxury to go through this process without having the pressure of instant results and the necessity to make compromises. I felt totally at ease, and totally free to explore all the different corners that were necessary, I think, to get near the scope of such an enormous story.
HBO:
You were the first production about the genocide to shoot in Rwanda where the actual events took place. Working with the locals as you did, with so many of the survivors, it must have been tremendously emotional. What was the experience like?
Raoul Peck:
To make this film in Rwanda was part of the project from the start. It wouldn't feel legitimate to tell this story without the Rwandese themselves involved in the making of the movie. For me, it was an inseparable approach. As a black person, a Haitian, and part of the so-called "third world", I had to make sure that I would be able to look "my people" in the eyes after making this movie.
So it was important to develop the whole production with them. A big part of our crew were Rwandese people. A lot of the actors. Even some of the main characters were Rwandese who were cast in Rwanda. So it was a joint effort.
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Raoul Peck directs a scene from "Sometimes in April".
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"I think it will help people feel that what is happening on the other end of the world, it's part of them as well. It's their story, whether you live in L.A., in Timbuktu, or in Japan." |
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— Raoul Peck
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Making it, the feeling was just extraordinary. I had people with me who not only were backing me up all the time, but who would also push me further than I would go, out of respect for their feelings and their emotions. They were the ones telling me to go on. Sometimes, it would happen that an actor seemed traumatized by a scene, or would feel transported ten years before into 1994 and reliving some traumatic moment they went through. When I was the one to say, well, maybe we should stop, they were pushing me saying, "no, let's do another take. Don't worry, we'll have time to cry. But the world, the rest of the world has to know this story." And so we went to tell it.
So it was a lot of those powerful moments that made this film so special to me, and to all the people who were involved. None of us left Rwanda without great pain. And I don't think we left Rwanda anyway. Many of the French crew went back to Rwanda, and have many good friends there now. For me, it's like we created something that will never be interrupted. The people there feel represented in this movie. It's their movie.
HBO:
What are the lessons? What can we learn from this?
Raoul Peck:
I think that there is a great deal to learn. I hope. And I can only hope. Because you know, you make a film, and the rest is what people make out of it. But I do hope that this film will help the comprehension of what did happen in 1994 in Rwanda and will even help understand what is taking place today in Sudan. I think it will help people feel that what is happening on the other end of the world, it's part of them as well. It's their story, whether you live in L.A., in Timbuktu, or in Japan. It's a story about all human beings, assuming that we all agree at least on that point. So I hope the film will provoke those thoughts and will help further discussions. It's not a film that you can just consume and then forget about. This film is here to stay.
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