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Itsembatsemba. Rwanda, one genocide later | Alexis Cordesse

  • France
  • 1997
  • fr
  • en
  • 13'

Rwanda, April 1996. Precisely two years after the genocide, photo-reporter Alexis Cordesse visits the massacre sites. He photographs the commemorations, the civilians who heal the wounds, certain places left untouched since 1994. He records the traces of violence, of memory coming together. His photographs resonate with the archives of Rwandan radio, which at the time of the genocide urged racial hatred and violence.

Itsembatsemba. Rwanda, one genocide later | Alexis Cordesse
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Synopsis

Rwanda, April 1996. Precisely two years after the genocide, photo-reporter Alexis Cordesse visits the massacre sites. He photographs the commemorations, the civilians who heal the wounds, certain places left untouched since 1994. He records the traces of violence, of memory coming together. His photographs resonate with the archives of Rwandan radio, which at the time of the genocide urged racial hatred and violence.

What you will learn in this film…

The confrontation of overwhelming images with the sound archives which led to the tragedy • An unprecedented combination of photographs and testimonies • The present in image, the past in sounds • What remains after the violence • The first commemorations • The work of remembering • A rostrum-camera film • Sound creation in the service of photography

Keywords

War photography Reporting Rostrum camera Death Black and White

Film chapters

summary00:00 The radio called for violence

summary04:00 Finding peace?

summary07:26 Two years on

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Linked Articles

The authors/artists

Alexis Cordesse
Photographe
Eyal Sivan
Producteur

Further exploration

Bibliography

Resources

Instagram

• 2010 LUCIEN & RODOLPHE HERVÉ PRICE CATALOGUE - artist: Alexis Cordesse ; 2010 ; Vimagies editions ; French   

• INFERNO - artist: James Nachtwey ; 2000 ; Phaidon 

• DEATH, IMAGE, MEMORY: THE GENOCIDE IN RWANDA AND ITS AFTERMATH IN PHOTOGRAPHY AND DOCUMENTARY FILM - author: Piotr Cieplak ; 2017 ; Palgrave Macmillan

• SMALL COUNTRY - author: Gaël Faye ; translator: Sarah Ardizzone ; 2019 ; Vintage

Alexis Cordesse’s website

Eyal Sivan’s website

Nicolas Becker - Bureau du Son’s website

The Day Nobody Died, War Photography, and the Violence of the Image - Canadian Art Review Article

Rwanda Genocide: 100 Days of Slaughter - BBC News Article