A film by Atiq Rahimi "There is no better lycée than Our Lady of the Nile. Nor is there any higher. Twenty-five hundred meters, the white teachers proudly proclaim. “Two thousand four hundred ninety-three meters,” points out Sister Lydwine, our geography teacher. “We’re so close to heaven,” whispers Mother Superior, clasping her hands together."

Excerpt from Scholastique Mukasonga "Our Lady of the Nile" OUR LADY OF THE NILE

A film by Atiq Rahimi

2019 - France, Belgium, - 93 mn - Color - French with some Kinyarwanda

SCREENINGS SCHEDULE @ TIFF INTERNATIONAL SALES Nicolas Eschbach ([email protected]) Florencia Gil ([email protected]) PRESS & INDUSTRY Simon Gabriele ([email protected]) SAT 7, 11:45 AM @ Scotiabank 6 Clément Chautant ([email protected]) FRI 13, 12:30 PM @ Scotiabank 8 INTERNATIONAL PRESS PUBLIC Touchwood PR THU 5, 6:45 PM @ TIFF Bell Lightbox Cinema 1 Andrea Grau FRI 6, 12:15 PM @ Jackman Hall [email protected] SAT 14, 8:30 PM @ Scotiabank 8 +1 (416) 347 6749 SYNOPSIS

Rwanda, 1973. Young girls are sent to Our Lady of the Nile, a prestigious Catholic boarding school perched on a hill, where they are taught to become the Rwandan elite. With graduation on the horizon, they share the same dormitory, the same dreams and the same teenage concerns. But throughout the land as well as within the school, deep-seated antagonism is rumbling, about to change these young girls’ lives – and the entire country – forever. ATIQ RAHIMI

Atiq Rahimi is a novelist and filmmaker.

His first feature, EARTH AND ASHES, co-authored with Iranian filmmaker Kambuzia Partovi, was presented in the “Un Certain Regard” section at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival where it was awarded the Prix du Regard vers l’Avenir.

SYNGUÉ SABOUR: THE PATIENCE STONE, his first novel written directly in French, won the Prix Goncourt on November 10, 2008.

In 2011, he adapted it into a screenplay with French author and screenwriter Jean-Claude Carrière. The movie, which he also directed, world-premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and went on to enjoy widespread public acclaim when it was released on February 20, 2013. Notably, it showcased actress Golshifteh Farahani who received a César nomination for her performance.

OUR LADY OF THE NILE is Atiq Rahimi’s third feature film. AN INTERVIEW WITH ATIQ RAHIMI

Atiq Rahimi, your latest film is an adaptation based on Scholastique Mukasonga’s novel, Our Lady of the Nile (Renaudot Prize 2012). This is your first time working from someone else’s writing… Correct. My first two fiction feature films, Earth and Ashes and The Patience Stone were inspired by my own novels. With Our Lady of the Nile, the experience was quite peculiar given it was an autofiction and that the story took place in Rwanda, a country I had never been to. When the producer Marie Legrand offered me the film adaptation, I was hesitant. She liked the way I had depicted the female characters in The Patience Stone and she thought I was “the ideal person”. I couldn’t be sure before visiting the country myself. I had to feel the nation’s soul before I could sign on. Before visiting Rwanda for the first a mirror, invites humanity to reflect an incredible revelation for me and Is it possible the various constraints time, what knowledge did you have upon itself, to feel its wounds and convinced me to embark on this (either cultural or regarding the of the country? to re-encounter itself both in its beautiful cinematic adventure. historical period…) may have Like most people, my knowledge horrors and its delights. paradoxically allowed for broader was limited to the 1994 genocide. A Did you read Our Lady of the Nile freedom of action? tragedy which, in my mind, merged This film was the perfect when it was first released, in 2012? Even when it comes to Afghanistan, inevitably with the fratricide war opportunity, then… Of course. Scholastique and I met in which is mon own country of in my own homeland, Afghanistan, Before leaving, I read a great deal of 2008, at the Montreal Book Fair. I origin, I always work at a certain which began two years earlier. In books and I watched almost every remember one night there was a fire distance. I’ve always struggled with both cases, it all started on a political film ever made - both fiction and in our hotel and we ended up in the being direct and immediate with level and gradually narrowed down documentary - about the history of basement with all of the other guests, events I feel personally concerned to questions of ethnicity, race and Rwanda, but nothing could replace in the middle of the night, in our by. I don’t know how to recreate even religion… At that time I had the direct encounter with its people. pyjamas! When Our Lady of the Nile historical and social events through just lost my brother, who was killed Foolishly, I had an image of a very was published I read it immediately realistic or naturalistic narratives. during the war. The civil war in violent, chaotic country, filled with and liked it very much. Little did I like recreating a world based on Yugoslavia had also just broken out. noise and under permanent tension. I know I would later have to try my own experiences and ideas. Our That period was particularly violent. When I arrived, the stillness, the to penetrate into the psyche of the Lady of the Nile is a personal, quasi The world’s silence in the face of kindness, the cleanliness and the novel’s characters, and delve into the autobiographical novel, structured these three tragedies horrified me. order all immediately surprised me. inner world and collective imaginary like a chronicle about a school the Ever since then, I had wanted to I was surrounded by peaceful faces; of a people I knew nothing about… author personally attended. Where travel to Sub-Saharan Africa, and Hills covered in fog which exuded It’s quite overwhelming when you do I come in, in all this? And I don’t in particular to Rwanda which, like a sense of calm. That first trip was think about it… mean that it terms of legitimacy but rather of inspiration. I didn’t want to have stayed with me since my college in preparation for what would be Fontenaille’s house (the character is repeat what Scholastique had already years. And that’s is exactly what Our known as the “ Popular Genocide “. played by Pascal Greggory), we see brilliantly written in her book. I had Lady of the Nile is about. The story They pushed out and went on to old photographs and drawings of to reshape the material and extract unfolds in the 1970s, in a Catholic annihilate the consciousness of an Hutus, Tutsis and Twas all posing myself from the specific historical boarding school for girls who are entire nation. Our Lady of the Nile together. Then, right beside them, event in order to create a universal seemingly carefree and yet who find takes place during that preparatory there are photographs of a German story about the human tragedy. themselves thrusted at the center of an phase. anthropologist measuring someone’s Because contrary to literature, cinema irreversible mechanism of violence, There have been some excellent nose in order to better establish the is quite fragile when confronted all in the name of their origins. In and powerful films about the physiological differences between with this kind of story; it can easily the seventies, Rwanda, much like 1994 but what individuals. This brings us back to become somewhat trivial. Afghanistan, is under absolute rule. interested me most in Scholastique’s the notions of myth and the sacred. In It isn’t the people who decide, for novel was how it went back to the order to oppose people, we sacralise When did you find your place within better of for worse, their political roots of the conflict, clearly showing one part of a community and we give the story? system. It’s the elite, the technocrates that the interethnic opposition had them a false sense of superiority. After my first trip to Rwanda. As and the leaders. The genocide against first been introduced by the early Like in the Bible, which I quote in a soon as I found, within its culture, the Tutsi of 1994 didn’t arise all of German settlers. It is they who in scene in the church, when the priest something I’ve been obsessed with a sudden or without premeditation. the 19th century decided to brutally mentions Noah’s famous passage. ever since I started writing books Its roots can be found in 1959, when segregate the Rwandan people. Prior There are colonialists and racists and making movies: the relationship the monarchy was overthrown by to that, the people were simply who interpret the text by associating between the sacred and violence. The the Hutu clan. And then later, in differentiated by social class and the curse of Canaan to the fate of all ideas set forth in philosopher René 1973, when the manhunt on the occupation; not by their origins. In descendants of Ham, thus justifying Girard’s “Violence and the Sacred” elite and intellectual class began, the film, when we’re in Monsieur de black slavery.

The violence creeps in slowly and The sacred inserts itself everywhere seems even more unreal as it unravels and is even present in your way of in a closed-off environment… filming the faces of these young Yes, indeed. When you visit Rwanda girls… nowadays, it’s surprising to see so The sacred is what is sublimed; much softness and peaceful beauty it equates to a constant search on the faces and landscapes of the for beauty. It’s partially what has country, despite its violent past. It’s characterised religious art since hard to believe one of humanity’s most the dawn of time. I wanted to make gruesome horrors was committed an icon out of each and every one there. But as with all my work in of these 20 young girls. However, literature and film, I didn’t want to beneath the sublimation and all that turn that horror into a spectacle of beauty, a certain violence begins to violence. Especially because the story form. Once that violence takes over, takes place in a Catholic school for nothing is aestheticised any more. To girls, high up on a hill, cut-off from the contrary, the brightness suddenly the reality of the outside world. I fades, the composition looses its first film the girls in their careless harmony, the image becomes twitchy, innocence; then, politics and the convulsive… The onset of violence influence of religion progressively shatters the country’s beauty and come in, transforming their angelic softness. world into a nightmarish reality. In fact, the film opens on those desire on your part to have them all stunning images of an almighty Nature on equal footing? and a young girl bathing, almost as if Well that’s how the book is written. purified… There’s a common thread, Virginia, Absolutely. The film is constantly who we follow from beginning to navigating between the realms of end, but it isn’t through her that the memory and dream. That first scene story is experienced. Little by little and the opening credits set that tone for the tandem made up of Gloriosa (the the film. This carefree girl, swimming Hutu) and Modesta (half Hutu-half so gracefully, is the image of Rwandan Tutsi) makes it way to the surface. youth today, and the voice-over is In those days, all of those schools the voice of her grandmother as she had quotas for Tutsi students. recounts, in the form of tales and legends, her own story and the story of How did you find the actresses her country. Then, the camera moves who play the students living in the into the dormitory where the girls are school? asleep. The dreams and memories of a In Rwanda there aren’t really any people: the most beautiful, precious young professional actors and things to capture. actresses aside from the ones who appear on TV shows. So, we created a Among the 20 young girls, none held workshop in . I told the casting the main role. Was there a conscious director I didn’t wan’t to know the he sincerely believes everything he it. He’s elusive. During the shoot I skin, White masks”. The White man’s Christianity is only introduced says, he seems well-intended, except would ask him to do each scene in a world was everything these young much later, from the outside, and is he’s catering to the very legend on different tone: perversity, aristocratic girls could dream of. That’s how they the result of colonisation. To these which the genocide will take basis. poise, extravagance… He was were raised. In fact, one of the nuns young girls, the witch subconsciously Just as the Christians did in many perplexed at first but he quickly got from the school says: “Africa is for represents a refuge to turn to, within other countries. Colonialism and on board. I then mixed the different geography, History is for Europe.” their ancient imaginary, whenever Christianity have often helped each takes in editing. The fantasy of all these countries was they are threatened by the Church, other create myths in order to better to be a part of History, as written by colonialism or political violence. As divide and conquer. Can you tell us about the voice-over the western world. Just as Veronica’s can be seen in the last two parts of we hear in the film? character dreams of performing in the film. And yet Monsieur de Fontenaille It’s the voice of the Rwandan people, White movies. The sequence where tries to reinstitute a dream stolen its collective imaginary, its spirit. I the brown paint fades off of the Our Where was the film shot? from an entire people… asked Florida Uwera, also known as Lady of the Nile statue, revealing the In a village near Lake Kivu, in the … Maybe, but that too breads violence. “the diva of Rwandan music” to lend white skin hidden underneath, is district of Rutsiro. It’s a Catholic And therein lies the problem! her magnificent voice for the part. significant in that respect. There, it’s school which is still in use and She kindly accepted. the black mask over white skin that which has some recent buildings as Was it an obvious choice to have one of the young girls yearns for! well as some older ones. It’s located Pascal Greggory play the character? In the dormitory, we see photographs high up in the mountains and is In order to steer clear from clichés, I of certain celebrities hanging on Among the enigmatic characters in difficult to reach. Once you arrive, had to find an actor who was capable the wall: Brigitte Bardot, Johnny the film, there’s the witch… it’s quite impressive to see the church of bringing a sense of mystery to Hallyday… All White… She represents the archetype of overlooking everything. We shot the the character. Pascal was perfect for In the words of Franz Fanon: “Black the Rwandan people’s beliefs. film between October and December, over the course of seven weeks, of the fog… There are also a few I wanted that silence of death to be few tracks from those albums. In the during the light rains. It complicated scenes shot at dawn and during the present in the film. Finally, the last end they made the final cut. It was things but I knew I wanted to shoot night which are in shades of blue… shot is a nod to Abbas Kiarostami’s that ethereal music, the very one at that time of the year, with its swift Rwanda has a visually and sonically Through the olive trees. that had filled my Rwandan nights, changes in light, going from cloudy ethereal atmosphere which I wanted that had influenced me… probably to sunny, often bringing out halftone to capture. Tell us about the music… even in my film direction. I find colours. It’s the complete opposite The film score is something I always certain track titles echo strangely from my film Earth and Ashes, in Did you have any film references? obsess about and I can change my with the film: God doesn’t exist, which the harsh sunlight crushes Various heterogenous references mind half-way through the process, Little white beds… everything. which, on a narrative and theme- depending on the rhythm and tone related level, seemed to all be related we find in the editing room. I admit Speaking of which, the lighting in my mind! When it comes to Nature, it can be a bit tiresome for some of created by Thierry Arbogast is very violence and the sacred, it’s difficult to my collaborators. While I was in expressive… not think of Terrence Malick’s earlier Rwanda there were three jazz albums Contrary to my previous films, I films. To me it seemed evident. I also by this trio made up of Aldo Romano, didn’t have any specific pictorial had Jean Vigo’s Zero for Conduct in Henri Sexier and Louis Sclavis that references to show him this time. mind. The pillow-fight scene with I would listen to all the time. A few The instructions where to respect the feathers flying in slow motion years ago they travelled through the Rwandan natural light and its is actually a tribute to him. For the Sub-Saharan Africa and stopped to predominant colours: the ocre red of massacre scene, I thought of Gus play in different villages. When my the ground, the green of the hills, the Van Sant’s Elephant and the silence film editor, Henri de Luze, asked me blackness of the skin, the whiteness that accompanies the killing scenes. for musical references I brought in a AN INTERVIEW WITH SCHOLASTIQUE MUKASONGA

Our Lady of the Nile, published by Gallimard in 2012, is your first novel… Yes. Up until then, I had only written autobiographical books: Cockroaches (2006) which was about my childhood years in the town of Nyamata and The Barefoot Woman (2008) which was a tribute to my mother, as well as all to Tutsi mothers in Rwanda who remained dignified in the face of adversity and whose only reason to live was to save their children. So Our Lady of the Nile is indeed my first fictional piece although everything in the book is based on my own experiences. Unlike my first two autobiographical books which were written in pain, the writing process of Our Lady of the Nile unfolded, much to my surprise, in a more peaceful atmosphere given the characters were fictional: it showed me the joy of writing. My high school was actually called Notre-Dame des Cîteaux, and was located in the city centre of Kigali, not in the mountains told so many times that we had to writing caught up with me and reality then left for France in 1992, two as is said in the film or novel. It was a die, that we were nothing more than naturally imposed itself, without my years before the genocide. On April Catholic school, like most schools in “cockroaches”, that our only right in knowing. One way or the other, I had 6th 1994 I woke up like everyone else Rwanda, attended mainly by young life was to one day be killed… We to tell this story. Unlike my parents, in France. In a state of total shock. girls of the country’s elite. I shared a had accepted and internalised the I survived, and I owed it to myself You hear your parents tell you, your classroom with the daughters of the idea of death. The very first pogroms to testify so that nothing would be whole life, that extermination is your prime minister and the president. I began in 1959. When I joined Notre- forgotten. I feel that responsibility foreseeable fate, but you can never was among the few Tutsi to have had Dame des Cîteaux and later, when I very strongly. To live or rather to not imagine something like the genocide the opportunity to go to secondary went into social assistant training in die, in order to tell my story. being possible. Suddenly everything school despite the quota policies that Butare in the early sixties, I found crumbles. Madness creeps up on you. limited the number of Tutsi students. myself isolated and very vulnerable. Was this duty of remembrance ever “You will be our memory!” Those I had to carry that pain on my own too heavy to bear? words resonated within me. I had Why did you feel the need to tell two shoulders. I no longer had my Before writing this novel I was to carry on. So I wrote, I put pen to this story? loved-ones around to protect me. afraid I’d loose my mind. In 1973 my paper, I was terrified my memory Firstly, I wanted to describe my It was extremely violent. Virginia’s parents said to me: “Scholastique, would fade, all of a sudden. I had to encounter with discrimination. character in the novel and film is you’ve learned French, you have an salvage it, at all costs. I couldn’t sleep, Before attending the school, I actually me… even if I wasn’t fully international passport, you have I had nightmares every single night. lived in Nyamata with my family. aware of that while I was writing it. to leave. You will be our memory!” I took notes. It was only much later Experiences of pain, humiliation and I turned to fiction in order to put My parents knew that by staying in that I went back to them in order to brutality were shared commonly by some distance between the events Rwanda they were doomed, and so write my two autobiographical books all of us. As a Tutsi you just dealt with and myself. It would have been they ordered me to leave. I was 16 and later for Our Lady of the Nile, it, it was almost normal. We had been too destructive otherwise. But my years old. I went to and which liberated me from the guilt of centre of Kigali, not in the mountains We had been told so many times that naturally imposed itself, without my before the genocide. On April 6th as is said in the film or novel. It was a we had to die, that we were nothing knowing. One way or the other, I had 1994 I woke up like everyone else Catholic school, like most schools in more than “cockroaches”, that our only to tell this story. Unlike my parents, in France. In a state of total shock. Rwanda, attended mainly by young right in life was to one day be killed… I survived, and I owed it to myself You hear your parents tell you, your girls of the country’s elite. I shared a We had accepted and internalised the to testify so that nothing would be whole life, that extermination is your classroom with the daughters of the idea of death. The very first pogroms forgotten. I feel that responsibility foreseeable fate, but you can never prime minister and the president. I began in 1959. When I joined Notre- very strongly. To live or rather to not imagine something like the genocide was among the few Tutsi to have had Dame des Cîteaux and later, when die, in order to tell my story. being possible. Suddenly everything the opportunity to go to secondary I went into social assistant training crumbles. Madness creeps up on you. school despite the quota policies in Butare in the early sixties, I found Was this duty of remembrance ever “You will be our memory!” Those that limited the number of Tutsi myself isolated and very vulnerable. I too heavy to bear? words resonated within me. I had students. had to carry that pain on my own two Before writing this novel I was to carry on. So I wrote, I put pen to shoulders. I no longer had my loved- afraid I’d loose my mind. In 1973 my paper, I was terrified my memory Why did you feel the need to tell this ones around to protect me. It was parents said to me: “Scholastique, would fade, all of a sudden. I had to story? extremely violent. Virginia’s character you’ve learned French, you have an salvage it, at all costs. I couldn’t sleep, Firstly, I wanted to describe my in the novel and film is actually me… international passport, you have I had nightmares every single night. encounter with discrimination. Before even if I wasn’t fully aware of that while to leave. You will be our memory!” I took notes. It was only much later attending the school, I lived in Nyamata I was writing it. I turned to fiction in My parents knew that by staying in that I went back to them in order to with my family. Experiences of pain, order to put some distance between Rwanda they were doomed, and so write my two autobiographical books humiliation and brutality were shared the events and myself. It would have they ordered me to leave. I was 16 and later for Our Lady of the Nile, commonly by all of us. As a Tutsi you been too destructive otherwise. But my years old. I went to Burundi and then which liberated me from the guilt of just dealt with it, it was almost normal. writing caught up with me and reality left for France in 1992, two years having survived. The novel’s publication and the remembrance. The Prix Renaudot years before the project would come What was your involvement in the Prix Renaudot must have come as proved not only that the story I to fruition. She bought the film film making process ? a relief… was telling deserved to be told, rights. I waited. I was confident. I acted as a consultant, I followed It’s all the result of a long process. but that it also had literary value. In 2017, Dimitri Rassam came on each step of the process and read Writing my first two autobiographies It was like a passport, it authorised board and everything accelerated. the different versions of the script. and meeting with the readers are me to continue on this beautiful To make a long story short, five I had no reason to react like what initiated the liberation. I adventure that is literature. years later, just as Charlotte had Marguerite Duras, who was against was finally telling my story, with predicted, Our Lady of the Nile is film adaptations of her work. I words. My voice was slowly being Today, the novel has been made now a film. It’s quite wonderful. was in the opposite state of mind. freed. I often say that “the poison into a film… What counted most to me was that was leaving me”. I was healing. It’s Everything surrounding this novel Did you have a say in the choice of the film be shot in Rwanda. In the really then that I felt the strength is exceptional. I’m quite aware of director? same context as the novel. Everyone and power of writing. That’s when that. A few months after receiving Dimitri told me one day: agreed. Atiq completely immersed I finally decided to try out fiction the Prix Renaudot, I received “Scholastique, I found the director himself in a culture foreign to him. with Our Lady of the Nile. Fiction a phone call letting me know for the film. Atiq Rahimi!” He involved himself tremendously. is magical, it’s less painful. As I was Charlotte Casiraghi wanted to meet Marvellous. Ever since we met in He made a first trip to Rwanda writing it, I would sometimes catch me. She had read my novel, had 2008 at the Montreal Book Fair, and stayed on-site for two months. myself smiling. It felt good. I didn’t been extremely moved and believed we had become very close. He the He’s a very sensitive person, who think the manuscript would interest it would make a beautiful film. Afghan, I the Rwandan; we shared understands things quickly. He went Gallimard, let alone receive the Prix Charlotte told me then and there a similar story. He was very well back for another six months, during Renaudot. I had adventured onto that making a film is a long process placed to adapt Our Lady of the the preparation of the film. He the path of literature by a duty of and that it would be at least five Nile. worked with Rwandan actresses who knew nothing of acting and yet who He was right to choose a beautiful idea of a superior race. Monsieur forsaken rural community. Sadly, I come across as total professionals actress to play the part. It avoids de Fontenaille embodies the folly wasn’t able to see it through… on screen. I met him there in order caricature. He understood perfectly: behind the concept of the Tutsi to introduce him to the diva Florida the heart of Our Lady of the Nile was myth. He fantasises completely Tell us more… who does the voice-over in the film. meant to reconcile. without ever realising the tragic It’s a lot like what you see in the Today, Atiq practically knows as consequences it entails. film. One day, I was in class when much as I do about my own country’s Where did the character Monsieur suddenly a group of students culture. We even gave him a rwandan de Fontenaille come from? How big of a role did the Catholic from another class comes in. name, Kanyamisozi (the one from The character was inspired by a true church play at the time ? “Scholastique, they’re here, run!” the mountains). story: there was an old settler who In the sixties and seventies, there So I ran away. I was ready, always had a coffee plantation in Burundi, was a Catholic school every 10 on the lookout, like a hunted animal Are there big differences between on the shores of lake Tanganyika. It kilometres. Any Rwandan who ready to flee at any given time the film and your novel? had become a very popular beach. wanted to get an education had to without a moment’s doubt. I knew it A film script isn’t a novel. You have He lived in a big abandoned villa, be baptised. No one questioned could happen at any time. That was to make choices and synthesise as decorated with “Egyptian” mosaics. it, it was part of our education. in 1973, the year the government much as possible. To rewrite the It became the theme of the novel. Generally speaking, boys were sent cancelled the quotas allowing Tutsis novel on screen would have been Through this disturbed, decadent to seminaries with the priests and to go to school. The thought of both impossible and in vain. Atiq character, I underline the settlers’ girls joined the nuns. Fortunately, I Tutsis gaining access to knowledge respected the tone of the book all the full responsibility in the Rwandan was lucky enough to study and train was unbearable to them. And so, while bringing in his own creative tragedy. They’re the ones who as a social assistant. My goal was they chased us out of the schools. voice. I was very fond of the subtlety established differences within the to return to my hometown villages I ended my studies then and there he brought to the character Gloriosa. population and who planted the after graduation in order to help the and left the country. In the film, the violence is offset by a deliberately pure, beautiful cinematography… The beauty of the images, landscapes and faces. It’s extremely powerful. It’s a wonderful tribute to mankind and Nature. Paradoxically, the beauty brings out the violence even more. Nowadays, we can observe the violence without any unwholesome, hidden agenda. As a matter of fact, the notions of Tutsi and Hutu no longer exist in Rwanda.

The genocide isn’t taboo in Rwandan society… … which is great! We don’t hide anything from our children. No falsehood. We must avoid denial at all cost and find the right words and the right images in order to preserve them, to shelter them from the poison that ruined my own childhood. Our children must not be held prisoners of our past. Director of photography: Thierry Arbogast (AFC) CAST Editing: Hervé de Luze, Jacqueline Mariani Sound Design: Dana Farzaneh Pour, Ingrid Ralet, Virginia Santa Amanda Mugabekazi Etienne Curchod, Mathieu Cox Gloriosa Albina Sydney Kirenga Production Designer: Françoise Joset Immaculée Angel Uwamahoro Veronica Clariella Bizimana Costume Designer: Cédric Mizero Modesta Belinda Rubango Simbi Casting Director: Hope Azeda Frida Ange Elsie Ineza Still Photographer: Sophie Davin Goretti Kelly Umuganwa Teta Produced by: Chapter 2, Les Films du Tambour Fontenaille Pascal Greggory Mother superior Carole Trévoux Producers : Dimitri Rassam, Charlotte Casiraghi, Marie Legrand et Rani Massalha CREW Coproduced by: France 2 Cinéma, Swoon Productions et Belga Productions Coproducers: Patrick Vandenbosch, Jérôme de Bethune, Fabrice Delville, Christophe Toulemonde Genre: Drama With the support of: Canal +, Ciné +, France Télévision, Wallimage Written by: Atiq Rahimi et Ramata Toulaye-Sy (La Wallonie), Proximus, Rwanda Film Office, CNC Based on: “ Notre-Dame du Nil ” In association with: Cofinova 15, Cinéventure 4, Wallimage (La Wallonie) Scholastique Mukasonga’s book, © Gallimard, 2012(Winner of the 2012 Renaudot Prize) French Distributor: Bac Films Directed by: Atiq Rahimi Belgium Distributor: Belga Films International sales: Indie Sales

WWW.INDIESALES.EU /indiesales @indiesalescompany

Contact : [email protected]