Overview
The Rwanda Film Festival, known as Hillywood, is Rwanda's primary film festival and one of Africa's most distinctive film events. Founded in 2005 by Eric Kabera, a Rwandan journalist and filmmaker, the festival is held annually in July in Kigali and combines urban screenings with a traveling mobile cinema program that brings films to rural communities across Rwanda using inflatable outdoor screens. The festival is organized by the Rwanda Cinema Center (now operating under the Kwetu Film Institute), which Kabera established to train new filmmakers and promote the Rwandan film industry.
The festival's name "Hillywood" references Rwanda's nickname as the "Land of a Thousand Hills." The mobile cinema component is the festival's defining feature: after screenings in Kigali, selected films travel to rural villages across the country, projected on large inflatable screens in open-air settings. This approach reaches audiences who have no access to commercial cinemas. Rwanda has very few permanent cinema screens, making the mobile cinema program a primary channel for film exhibition outside the capital.
The festival screens approximately 100 films across its program. It is a competitive festival, with the Silverback Awards presented across 10 categories. The festival is not an Academy Award-qualifying or BAFTA-qualifying festival. It does not operate an official film market. However, it has become a recognized platform for African cinema on the international festival circuit, with international press and programmers attending from Europe and North America.
Submission Information
The Rwanda Film Festival accepts submissions of independent features, shorts, narratives, and documentary films. Historically, submissions have been accepted through the festival website and by email. The festival has used FilmFreeway in some editions. Filmmakers should check the Rwanda Film Festival website for current submission status, as the festival's online presence has been intermittent and submission platforms may change year to year.
Historical submission timelines have followed this pattern:
- Submissions open: January
- Regular deadline: March
- Late deadline: May
- Selection notifications: June
- Festival dates: July
Submission fees, when applied, have been nominal or free for African filmmakers. The festival has historically been more accessible to African and diaspora filmmakers than to international submissions, which are accepted but not the primary programming focus.
Films selected for the festival should be prepared for outdoor screening conditions. The mobile cinema uses inflatable screens and portable projection equipment, which means films are screened in DVD or digital file formats rather than DCP. Filmmakers should confirm technical requirements directly with festival organizers upon selection.
Eligibility and Programming Focus
The festival programs films with attention to their relevance to African audiences and social issues. While the festival originally focused on films addressing the 1994 genocide and its aftermath, founder Eric Kabera has stated that the festival has expanded its focus to include broader social issues of modern Rwanda and Africa.
Programming priorities include:
- Films by Rwandan filmmakers
- Films from across Africa, with emphasis on East African productions
- Films addressing social issues relevant to African audiences
- Documentaries about African subjects
- Films by African diaspora filmmakers
- International films with themes of reconciliation, human dignity, and social justice
There is no strict premiere requirement. The festival does not enforce a world, international, or African premiere status for general programming, though competition categories may have specific eligibility requirements that change year to year.
Key Sections
- Feature Film Program - African and international narrative features
- Documentary Program - nonfiction films, with emphasis on African subjects
- Short Film Program - African and international shorts
- Rwandan Film Showcase - new productions by Rwandan filmmakers
- Mobile Cinema Tour - rural screenings across Rwanda on inflatable screens
- Filmmaking Workshops - training programs for Rwandan and East African filmmakers
- Special Screenings - curated programs and special events
Major Awards (Silverback Awards)
The Silverback Awards are the festival's competitive prizes, presented across 10 categories:
- Best Feature Film
- Best Documentary Film
- Best Short Film
- Best Director
- Hillywood Award - best Rwandan film
- East Africa Award - best East African film
- Resilience Award - film addressing themes of resilience and recovery
- Rwanda as Seen Around the World - international films about Rwanda
- Out of Africa: Films on Africa - best film about Africa by a non-African filmmaker
- Audience Award - voted by festival audiences across urban and mobile screenings
The Silverback Awards were launched in 2012 with sponsorship from London-based media company Hard Media. The number of awards has evolved over the years, with earlier editions presenting fewer categories.
Past Winners
The 15th edition (2019) awarded Best Long Feature Film to The Mercy of the Jungle, directed by Joel Karekezi (Rwanda). The film premiered at TIFF 2018 and became Rwanda's first Oscar submission. Best Rwandan Film went to Yuhi Amuli.
The 11th edition (2015) awarded Best Hillywood Film to My Shade, directed by Liane Muhoza Mutaganzwa. The film tells the story of an HIV-positive musician who gains international recognition. Best Audience went to Triangle - Going to America by Theodros Teshome.
The Silverback Awards were launched in 2012 with 10 categories. Earlier editions presented fewer categories. Specific winner lists for recent editions are not widely published online.
Notable Alumni Films and Where They Ended Up
The Mercy of the Jungle by Joel Karekezi won Best Long Feature Film at the 2019 festival. It premiered at TIFF 2018 and was Rwanda's submission for the Academy Awards for Best International Feature.
Kinyarwanda by Alrick Brown won the World Cinema Audience Award at Sundance 2011. The film is based on true accounts of the Rwandan genocide. Roger Ebert named it number 6 in his Top 20 Films of 2011.
Munyurangabo (2007) by Lee Isaac Chung was shot in Rwanda with a local cast. Chung later won the Academy Award for Best Director for Minari in 2021. The film screened at Cannes and established Rwanda as a filming location.
Grey Matter (2011) by Kivu Ruhorahoza became the first Rwandan-directed film at Cannes. Finding Hillywood (2013), a documentary about the festival itself, screened at more than 70 festivals worldwide and won 6 awards.
Submission Tips Specific to This Festival
The festival prioritizes films by Rwandan and East African filmmakers. Programming also includes African diaspora work and international films about reconciliation, human dignity, and social justice. Align your submission with these themes.
No strict premiere requirement exists for general programming. This differentiates the festival from competitive festivals that demand world or regional premieres. Competition categories may have specific eligibility requirements that change year to year.
Films selected for the mobile cinema tour screen on inflatable screens with portable projection. The technical setup uses DVD or digital file formats, not DCP. If your film depends on precise sound design or projection quality, the mobile cinema will not showcase those elements.
Submission fees have historically been nominal or free for African filmmakers. The festival has used FilmFreeway in some editions. Check the official website for current submission status, as the festival's online presence has been intermittent.
Industry Reputation Notes
The Rwanda Film Festival ran 15 editions from 2005 to 2019. It was known primarily for its mobile cinema model, bringing films to rural communities on inflatable screens. Up to 10,000 people attended single rural screenings.
Compared to FESPACO in Burkina Faso, Hillywood was far smaller in scale and budget. FESPACO is the largest pan-African festival with government backing and a film market. Hillywood offered no market and limited industry infrastructure.
Compared to Zanzibar International Film Festival (ZIFF), Hillywood had a similar community-focused approach. ZIFF screens in historic Stone Town with a larger international audience. Hillywood's rural mobile cinema gave it a unique audience reach that no other African festival matched.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences endorsed Eric Kabera's Kwetu Film Institute. Kabera received the 2012 Pan African Film Festival's African Creative Visionary Award. BBC, Variety, and The Independent covered the festival, giving it international media attention despite limited resources.
The festival was not a market festival and did not offer acquisition deals. Its industry value came from audience reach, East African networking, and its role in building Rwanda's film culture from scratch.
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What Filmmakers Should Know
The Rwanda Film Festival is not a market festival. If your goal is acquisition or distribution deals, this is not the right platform. The festival's value lies in three areas: audience reach through the mobile cinema program, networking with East African filmmakers and industry professionals, and the festival's role in the African cinema circuit.
The mobile cinema component means your film will be seen by audiences far beyond Kigali. Screenings in rural communities can draw hundreds or thousands of viewers per night. This is unusual for a film festival and gives selected films an audience reach that most festivals cannot offer. However, the technical setup is basic: inflatable screens, portable projectors, and outdoor audio. If your film depends on precise sound design or projection quality, the mobile cinema screenings will not showcase those elements.
For African and diaspora filmmakers, the festival offers genuine networking with East African producers, directors, and film organizations. The Kwetu Film Institute, which organizes the festival, also runs training programs and has connections across the East African film community. The festival has hosted international guests including director Michael Radford, who gave a masterclass at the 2015 edition.
The festival's infrastructure is limited compared to major European or North American festivals. Press accreditation, industry badges, and scheduled meetings are not as formalized. Filmmakers attending should be prepared for a more informal festival experience and should arrange their own travel and accommodation well in advance, as Kigali's hotel capacity fills during the festival period.
Festival History
The Rwanda Film Festival was founded in 2005 by Eric Kabera, eleven years after the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi. Kabera, a journalist and filmmaker, established the Rwanda Cinema Center to train new filmmakers and promote the country's film industry. The festival was created as part of this broader mission to build a film culture in Rwanda.
The festival's early editions focused heavily on films about the genocide and reconciliation. Kabera himself produced "100 Days," a drama about the genocide, and directed "Keepers of Memories," a documentary interviewing both victims and perpetrators. Over time, Kabera and the festival organizers expanded the programming to address broader social issues, reflecting Rwanda's development beyond the post-genocide period.
The mobile cinema innovation has been the festival's most influential contribution. The model of taking films to rural communities on inflatable screens has been studied and replicated by other African film festivals and cultural organizations. The festival has also contributed to the development of Rwanda's own film industry, with several Rwandan filmmakers who participated in festival workshops going on to produce features and documentaries distributed internationally.
The 2015 edition screened over 30 films across Kigali, Musanze, Gicumbi, and Rwamagana, with the closing film being "Selma," Ava DuVernay's film about Martin Luther King Jr. The festival has continued to operate annually, though with occasional changes in scale and scheduling.
See Also
For East African cinema and international film markets, see International Film Markets. For festival strategy and community cinema approaches, read Film Festival Strategy. For production budget planning, use the Production Budget Calculator.
