Munyurangabo

Ngabo is a teenaged boy named after the ancient Rwandan warrior Munyurangabo. He steals a machete in Kigali and sets out for the countryside with his friend Sangwa. Sangwa, as it happens, is Hutu. And long years after the genocide, this fact begins to open up differences between the two friends. Chung masterfully draws his audience into this private conflict. This is a closely observed drama, led by two young men – real-life market porters in Kigali – who are acting on screen for the first time with breathtaking naturalism. But a darker undercurrent simmers beneath the growing tension between Ngabo and Sangwa. There can be no innocent machete in Rwanda. Ngabo has stolen the weapon to return to his own village and take revenge on those who killed his family. —Cameron Bailey