Journal of Religion & Film Volume 21 Article 14 Issue 2 October 2017 9-30-2017 A Fight over Souls: Documentary Films on the Rwandan Genocide with a Christian Theme Tommy Gustafsson Linnaeus University,
[email protected] Recommended Citation Gustafsson, Tommy (2017) "A Fight over Souls: Documentary Films on the Rwandan Genocide with a Christian Theme," Journal of Religion & Film: Vol. 21 : Iss. 2 , Article 14. Available at: https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/jrf/vol21/iss2/14 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@UNO. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Religion & Film by an authorized editor of DigitalCommons@UNO. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. A Fight over Souls: Documentary Films on the Rwandan Genocide with a Christian Theme Abstract The 1994 eg nocide against the Tutsis in Rwanda have spawned over 150 feature films and feature-length documentaries, making it into the second most audio-visually recreated genocide after the Holocaust. Within this large body of historical films a subgenre have emerged with a distinctive Christian theme. This article explores these Christian themed documentary films about the Rwandan genocide and positions them within a film historical perspective as well as analyzes and contextualizes them as a subgenre of films about the Rwandan genocide within films about genocide in general. Of note are how memory and historiography are used, and the links between these films’ educational, religious, and commercial elements. Keywords Rwanda, genocide, evangelical, Catholic Church, Immaculée Ilibagiza, partisan documentary, education, historical memory Author Notes Tommy Gustafsson holds a PhD in History and is Professor of Film Studies at Linnaeus University, Sweden.