Sep 9, 2010
SFFILM
The San Francisco Film Society will present a special screening of Deborah Scranton’s compelling investigative documentary about Rwanda, Earth Made of Glass, 7:00 pm, Thursday, September 30 at Landmark’s Embarcadero Center Cinema (One Embarcadero Center, Promenade Level).
Years later, the 1994 Rwandan genocide still leaves deep scars. Director Deborah Scranton’s powerful film Earth Made of Glass looks at the wounds that remain through the stories of two men trying to expose the truth of what happened 15 years earlier. Jean Pierre Sagahutu, a genocide survivor, is determined to find out more about his father’s unsolved murder. At the same time, Rwandan president Paul Kagame tries to free his closest aide, Rose Kabuye, suspiciously arrested in France on charges of terrorism after a report detailing France’s hidden involvement in the genocide was released. Both ordinary citizen and head of state must navigate wrenching situations in their quest to reveal the past and face the future. Scranton’s extraordinary access to these two men in crisis provides a remarkable examination of a country in the process of recovery and a pointed assessment of what is necessary in order to move forward on a path to peace.
Following the screening, an engaging panel discussion will address the functions, roles and processes of documentary film as a form of investigative journalism. Phil Bronstein, editor-at-large at the San Francisco Chronicle, will moderate a discussion with director Deborah Scranton; Robert Rosenthal, executive director of the Center for Investigative Reporting and Mathilde Mukantabana, president of the Friends of Rwanda Association. Panelists’ bios follow.
Phil Bronstein
As editor-at-large, Phil Bronstein is responsible for broad strategic decisions at the San Francisco Chronicle and for the Hearst Corporation. Bronstein represents the Chronicle in community affairs and is the principal public face of the paper. As a reporter, Bronstein has specialized in investigative projects and was a foreign correspondent for eight years. He has won awards for his coverage of the Philippines from the Overseas Press Club, Associated Press, the World Affairs Council and Media Alliance.
Mathilde Mukantabana
Mathilde Mukantabana is originally from Rwanda and is the president of the Friends of Rwanda Association (friends-of-rwanda.org), a U.S.-based nonprofit organization that is helping in the postgenocide recovery effort in Rwanda. She initiated an undergraduate degree in social work at the University of Butare, Rwanda. Mukantabana is a professor of history at Cosumnes River College in Sacramento, California. She lost her immediate family in Rwanda during the 1994 Tutsi Genocide.
Robert Rosenthal
An award-winning journalist with nearly 40 years of experience, Robert Rosenthal has worked for some of the most respected newspapers in the country, including the New York Times, Boston Globe, Philadelphia Inquirer and San Francisco Chronicle. As a reporter, his awards include the Overseas Press Club Award for magazine writing, the Sigma Delta Chi Award for distinguished foreign correspondence and the National Association of Black Journalists Award for Third World Reporting.
Deborah Scranton
Deborah Scranton made her feature-length directorial debut in 2006 with The War Tapes, which was hailed by the New York Times as “raw, honest and moving.” Her first-person account of war in Iraq, Bad Voodoo’s War, aired on Frontline. As a visiting fellow at the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University, she worked with the Global Media Project.
Tickets: $10.00 SFFS year-round members; $12.50 general; $11.00 students, seniors and disabled.
For more information and to purchase tickets visit sffs.org/screenings-and-events.