Belgium and France / 2018 / 91mins / Drama, War / French and Swahili

At the outbreak of the Second Congo War, Rwandan soldiers Sergeant Xavier and Private Faustin are sent to hunt down Hutu rebels in the vast jungles of eastern Congo. Xavier is a stoic veteran of the ethnic wars that have plagued his country for years; Faustin is an eager young recruit who joined the army to avenge the death of his father and brothers. Under the relentless command of Major Kayitare, they march 80 kilometers a day in pursuit of the murderers of nearly one million Tutsis during the Rwandan genocide four years earlier. When they are accidentally left behind in the jungle, with only each other to rely on, they embark on an odyssey through one of the most beautiful, yet treacherous forests on earth, faced with the depths of their own war-torn souls.

Joël Karekezi

Joël Karekezi graduated in 2008 with a diploma in film directing from Cinecours. In 2009, he directed his short film The Pardon with the support of Maisha Film Lab, which won the Golden Impala Award at the Amakula Film Festival. He received a development award from the Göteborg International Film Festival Fund for his first feature film Imbabazi: The Pardon which has been screened at different festivals around the world, and won the Nile Grand Prize 2014 at Luxor African Film Festival and Best Director at International Images Film Festival for Women in 2014. In 2012 his script The Mercy of the Jungle won the CFI Award for the Most Promising Audiovisual Project at Durban FilmMart and the Step Development Award at Luxor African Film Festival in 2015. The film was selected at Cannes for La Fabrique de cinema du monde (2013), Locarno Open Doors (2014), Atelier Grand Nord in Quebec (2015), Forum de production de Namur (2015) and Rencontre de Coproduction Francophone in Paris (2015). Learn More