LE GOUT DU KOUMIZ
THE TASTE OF KOUMIZ by XAVIER CHRISTIAENS, Belgium 2003, 56min

The story of a man who long ago left his birthplace at the foot of the Black Mountains, lured away by the magic of big city life. Now he nostalgically remembers his childhood spent in the raw beauty of the mountains of Kyrgyzstan and searches for signs of the traditional nomadic life of his forefathers. Scenes from the peaceful life of days long gone by, living in tents and in close communion with nature, are contrasted with the anonymous, busy outskirts of the town, full of wandering dogs and run-down houses. The minimalist music creates a condensed atmosphere, together with a poetic, and in some places whispered commentary expressing the inner nostalgia for unstoppable disappearance of traditional culture of the nomads.

RWANDA, UN CRI D´UN SILENCE INOUI
RWANDA, A CRY OF DEAFENING SILENCE by ANNE LAINÈ, France 2003, OmU, 52min

In 1994 more than half a million people were brutally murdered in less than 100 days. The genocide, which was carried out predominantly with bush knives, ceased only after the entry of the exiled Tutsi army from Uganda, which pushed the murdering Hutu Interahamwe militia into neighboring Congo. Ten years after the genocide, Rwandan society is still haunted by the devastating trauma. French director Anne Lainé does not pick apart the reasons for this actions or historical links which led to the re-emergence of such a strong hatred among the majority Hutus and the minority Tutsi population. Instead she acquaints the audience with the dreadful fate of women who managed to survive the massacre.