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01
April 2006
John
Hurt Defends Rwanda
Genocide
Film
Actor
John Hurt, star of
Rwandan genocide film
Shooting
Dogs,
has defended the movie
at its UK
premiere.
John
Hurt, who plays a priest
who witnesses the 1994
carnage, said it was "a
perfectly considered
device" to make white
characters central to
the plot.
He
added that the
low-budget British
production was a "tough
shoot".
The
film had its world
premiere earlier this
week in front of an
audience of 1,500
Rwandans at a football
stadium in the country's
capital
Kigali.
Actor
Hugh Dancy plays a
teacher faced with the
dilemma of leaving a
group of Tutsi refugees
to their fate at the
hands of Hutu militia in
a school
complex.
He
said the response to the
screening in Rwanda was
"amazing".
"All
responses were bigger so
there was more laughter,
but you could also hear
people
weeping.
"Afterwards
there was total silence
and then there was this
overwhelming sound of
people wanting to talk
about it," the
30-year-old added at
Thursday's screening in
London.
Answering
criticisms that the film
was shot from a Western
perspective, Dancy said:
"One day I hope Rwandans
will make this
film."
Director
Michael Caton-Jones, who
also has Basic Instinct
2 in cinemas, said: "I
wanted to do a film for
myself that I was
passionate
about.
"I
knew nothing about
Rwanda beforehand, but I
thought, if I don't
know, I'm pretty sure
others don't know it,
and if this film shows
people more, then that's
a good
thing."
The
film, which is released
in the UK on Friday,
features hundreds of
Rwandans, including some
genocide
survivors.
Many
survivors and families
of victims went to see
its premiere in the east
African
country.
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