Marie-Clémentine is a Rwandan filmmaker based in her hometown Kigali. After studying to become an engineer, she began making films in 2011. Before her debut feature Ben’Imana, she directed four short films: Lyiza (2011), Behind the Word (2013), A Place for Myself (2016) and Icyasha (Etiquette) 2018. These short films screened in many film festivals around the world and won awards and prize such as Bronze Tanit JCC2012 and JCC2016 at Carthage; Jury Award at CineSud Festival 2014; Ousmane Sembène, Signs Award and Golden Dhow at ZIFF in 2016
Ben’Imana is the very first film by a Rwandan director to be selected for the Cannes Official Selection and won the 2026 Camera D’or.
We interviewed Marie-Clémentine during Sydney Film Festival 2026 about the incredible film Ben’Imana and the practical and personal journey she took to get it made, and what winning the Camera d’Or at Cannes means for her and the burgeoning film industry back home in Rwanda.
Congratulations on Ben’Imana and it’s so fantastic to have you here in Sydney?
Yes it’s great to be here, and it’s only the second place that the film is being shown. I knew about Sydney Film Festival before and I met the director Nashen in Cannes. Before I came here, I was sent a lot of message from Rwandan friends who are here in Sydney saying that the theatres are full, so I was excited to come. It feels like the film has made some noise here which is rewarding after many years of work! There are so many people who invested in the film financially and emotionally. The film has the equivalent of a million dollars that lies in the love and service of people.
That’s such a beautiful sentiment. How long did it take you to make the film?
I always say almost 10 years, but it may be 30 years if you count all the time I’ve been thinking about it! I didn’t want to count time because you can feel pressure. The sincerity and sensitivity of the subject and the responsibility I had as a Rwandan meant I needed to understand everything as much as possible, as much as someone who has lived in this community. I needed to portray the dignity of the community in all dimensions of that word. So, I didn’t put myself under time pressure. But it didn’t go beyond 13 years – I think!
It’s already an amazing achievement to be selected for Cannes, but to win the Camera d’Or is extraordinary. What do you think it means for the film, for yourself, and even for Rwandan cinema?
For me, it is stamp. It’s the stamp on Rwandan cinema, as well as for everyone who worked on this film. When you are selected for Cannes, it means there’s something in what you are bringing to the table. And when you win the Camera d’Or, it means you are part of a group of storytellers that everyone will open their hearts and minds and eyes to. It carries weight and it’s a beginning.
This film is 100% produced in Rwanda. Of the cast only Isabelle Kabano had experience working on big films, but for the rest of the cast and crew it was their first film. So there is a lot of pride and it’s a relief that we can get this recognition.
Ben’Imana is the first Rwandan film ever to be selected for Cannes. Is everyone celebrating back home?
Yes, that’s something that I’m thankful to God for because I see ownership in everyone. The name of the film, Ben’Imana means people of God, and that is what it means to be a Rwandan. I broke a lot of classic cinema rules making the film, and I did that so that everyone Rwandese feels included into the film. Even though the film hasn’t screened in Rwanda yet everyone is talking about Cannes and the Camera d’Or. I always say now the Camera d’Or belongs to the film and everyone who worked on it and everyone who carries the genes of the story that we’re bringing to the screen.
It’s also the first Camera d’Or also for Africa so it’s huge!
You were also one of the six honorees at the Women in Cinema Gala hosted by the Red Sea Film Foundation at Cannes this year- another congratulations!
Yes we are babies of the Red Sea Foundation! We received the Red Sea Souk Post-Production Award and the Filmmore In-Kind Award. It was funding we really needed to complete the film.
You are one of the producers of the film as well, and you have your own production company. Does it feel like an exiting time in the Rwandan film industry?
Yes there’s a lot of new independent production companies, and it feels like there’s something going on on the ground in Rwanda. Its exciting and the industry is dominated by young people who are eating their own way.
At our company we focus on independent films and line producing for international projects. Some others are into commercial films and series that screen on local TV channels, and some are focusing on commercials and video commercials. There’s a lot of effort being put into building strong tech hubs, and being part of this first generation of production means we are all struggling and working together. We survive in a collectivity, its not about one company dominating the others.
A lot of your work in the past has been about bringing society together, and integrating individuals who are struggling to fit in, or as in this film thinking about how different people can live alongside each other. Do you think that’s a bit of a theme for you?
Yes I think I have a soft heart. I’m so interested in how people always try to exist in the world, being who they have to be, owning that space, and trying to be accepted. In our societies there are people who find themselves in conflicts they didn’t initiate. I like to find out how people find themselves and how they come out of their problems. That is for me a journey of life.
For example, in the short film I made, A Place for Myself, an albino girl in Rwanda has to find a way to live amongst her classmates.
Most of the time it’s helped me actually reflect on my own life and look at things positively. So, if I can tell a story that other people find themselves reflected in, it’s rewarding.
The Rwandan genocide is obviously an incredibly complex event to make a film about. Was it a daunting subject to take on?
When I started working on this film, I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do. But I did know I wanted to understand, and to capture the spirit of Rwandans. I don’t belong to that generation who really experienced the genocide firsthand, so I wanted to know and explain why did that generation decided to do what they did and how do they interpret it. I needed to create a language to talk about it.
I think this film was not the film I wanted to make, but it’s a film I had to make.
Did you feel like you wanted to help Rwandans continue to understand each other, or did you feel like the film was more something to explain what happened to the rest of world?
The film is made first for Rwandans, and for the generation that didn’t experience the genocide, but also for those who did experience it. The fear of the past coming back exists in every war zone, because of the trauma and all the memories. The genocide is something that happened in a way that many people don’t understand. It’s a crime that was made within families as people turned on each other even within their homes. Healing has to take place – healing of the country, but also individual healing.
The film is set in 2012, 18 years after the genocide. I wanted to ask how I can look into the past without judging. My intention in making films is not to destroy, it’s really to build, and to keep the dignity in a places where the dignity is lost. It’s really to find the light.
The Gacaca or community courts were praised and studied around the world. When did they stop?
They finished in 2012. After the genocide, there were so many people in prison. There were no means to judge everyone and the victims were waiting for answers. I can’t imagine what the situation was like for people who had to make some very hard decisions, but they brought all these people together in these community courts to talk. The film is a kind of love letter to future generations to see that there were these crimes and then we had the time for justice, and we did it on our own terms.
We know conflict is escalating all over the world. Do you think the film could deliver a real message of hope and collaboration and understanding for people?
Yes I think so. Every conflict has an aftermath. Even family conflicts. Most of the time people love each other, but then they hate each other, and then they want to reconnect. So how do we reconnect? How do we move on without losing sight of other human beings.
In the film I focussed on the fact that many of the characters are mothers. Some are mothers of children who died, some are mother of killers. They talk mother to mother. The music in the film is another character in itself- it is the heartbeat of a mother, and a mother crying for the church, for her children, for the country.
There’s a reason our first language is called mother tongue. Every human being came to the world through a woman. It’s where we meet.
