Guest blog written by Ornella Mutoni, a documentary filmmaker and one of the Pop Culture and Social Change Producers at Counterpoints Arts.

When I was 6 months old my family and I had to flee from the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.

As a survivor I wanted to return to the land I had fled to explore what it means to rebuild your life when you’re constantly surrounded by a sense of loss.

My uncle was one of the key pioneers of the Gacaca courts which was the transitional justice system following the 1994 genocide. I was first drawn to these topics when I had visited Rwanda as a kid and had seen some of the Gacaca trials take place in public spaces. As an adult I have become passionate about abolition and transformational justice and I wanted to make a film with these themes to honour the work that has been done to rebuild Rwanda, especially since the country has had to undergo decades of efforts to reconcile the past.

The 7th April 2024 marks the 30th anniversary since the beginning of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi, and the issues of justice and healing have only become more pertinent.

In 2022, I went back to Rwanda wanting to better understand the reconciliation that happened after the genocide and make a short film. I was introduced to Emilienne, a community healer doing inspiring work. Like me, Emilienne had to flee her home to survive. She spent two decades grieving the murder of her family, then felt called to return to the home where she lost everything and rebuild it into a place where survivors, perpetrators, and their children are welcomed for vulnerable conversations and reconciliation. With no external support, Emilienne works tirelessly each day to heal the land she loves. Her work is the starting place for One Thousand Hills Between Us, a short documentary exploring intergenerational healing.

I’ve always wondered how this touchstone event in our history affected my generation and those who were born after the violence ended. Through my research I found that these are the people sometimes missing in the conversations around healing and by slowly becoming aware of some of the trauma I’m carrying, I became interested in focussing the topics of this film on Emilienne’s work with the next generation to highlight these unheard voices and the complexity of intergenerational trauma.

If you want to read more about the film and how you can support our crowdfunding campaign, you can click here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/one-thousand-hills-between-us/x/37067718#/