Rwanda, 1973: high up in the mountains, a black statue of the Virgin Mary watches over a Catholic boarding school for girls. Here, whether Hutu or Tutsi, the daughters of politicians, officers and businessmen are educated to one day become productive members of the country’s elite.

A bracing adaptation of Rwandan author Scholastique Mukasonga’s bestselling novel, Our Lady of the Nile examines the underpinnings of the 1994 genocide. With striking authenticity, writer-director Atiq Rahimi’s searing drama maps the toxic cultural terrain in which the seeds of atrocity were sewn.