Shooting Dogs

2007-02-28T06:46:00.000-08:00

SHOOTING DOGS IN THE U.S.

SHOOTING DOGS is coming to theatres in the U.S. under the title BEYOND THE GATES. It is opening in New York City on March 9th and rolling out to more cities in the following weeks!

So if you are in the States, you will now have a chance to see this incredibly powerful film.
There is also a terrific new website for the film's US release:

http://www.beyondthegates-movie.com

The site is visually stunning and is filled with compelling features, including an in-depth look into the story, helpful links and information about joining the cause to bring an end to genocide worldwide, and even a special feature about filming on location in Rwanda. Of course, the trailer and showtimes are available there as well. It’s definitely worth checking out!

2006-10-25T05:11:00.000-07:00

SHOOTING DOGS WINS TOP HONOURS AT THE HEARTLAND FILM FESTIVAL, INDIANAPOLIS.

Last week, SHOOTING DOGS was awarded the 2006 Grand Prize and $100,000 at The Crystal Heart Awards Gala, the climax of the Heartland Film Festival. The film's writer David Wolstencroft was presented with the award by legendary actor Jon Voight. This is a particularly significant award for the film with the US release now scheduled for early 2007.

The Heartland Film Festival takes place every October in Indianapolis, aiming to recognise and honour filmmakers whose work explores the human journey by artistically expressing hope and respect for the positive values of life. This year, the biggest crowd in Festival history gathered to honour those special films that enrich and inspire their audiences.

For the full story, more information on The Heartland Film Festival and a Webcast of the awards ceremony, please visit:

http://www.heartlandfilmfestival.org/2006/headlines.aspx#grandprise

2006-08-15T03:26:00.000-07:00

SPECIAL OFFER TO SHOOTING DOGS BLOG READERS

Thanks to the fantastic and supportive team at Amazon.co.uk, we've secured a special offer from them for readers of this blog for the DVD of Shooting Dogs.

If you order the DVD from them, enter this code at the checkout stage in the clearly marked PROMOTIONAL CODE box:

TL97QWK7

It will then record a discount of £4.00 from the standard amazon selling price.

2006-07-31T09:23:00.000-07:00

SHOOTING DOGS DVD IN STORES TODAY!!!

Included on this fantastic special edition DVD are:

- Audio Commentary with Michael Caton-Jones- Audio Commentary with writer David Wolstencroft & David Belton

- The Making Of Shooting Dogs

- Michael and David's Research Trip to Rwanda March 2004

- Theatrical Trailer

- Filmmakers' Diaries and Film Education DVDRom content

We will be publishing details of a special DVD offer for readers of the Shooting Dogs blog soon.

2006-07-12T04:34:00.000-07:00

Just a quick reminder that 31st July sees the highly anticipated DVD release of 'Shooting Dogs'.

Included on this special edition DVD are:

- Audio Commentary with Michael Caton-Jones

- Audio Commentary with writer David Wolstencroft & David Belton

- The Making Of Shooting Dogs

- Michael and David's Research Trip to Rwanda March 2004

- Theatrical Trailer

- Filmmakers' Diaries and Film Education DVDRom content

We'll be publishing details of a special offer for readers of the Shooting Dogs blog soon.

2006-06-29T07:57:00.000-07:00

SHOOTING DOGS WINS PRESTIGIOUS AWARDS

Great News!!! SHOOTING DOGS has swept up three highly prestigious film awards, and deservedly so:

The Peoples' Award - Vlissingen Film Festival, Holland
The Peoples' Award and Jury Award - Amazonia Film Festival, Brazil
The Inaugural Peoples' Prize - Mont Tremblant Film Festival, Canada.

2006-06-01T11:37:00.000-07:00

July 31st sees the DVD release of 'Shooting Dogs'

As well as a director approved transfer of the film, there are a host of special features which explore how the film came to be, what the effect of making the film has been on the filmmakers and survivors involved and how you can do your part to assist in the ongoing struggle against injustice and genocide.

Michael Caton-Jones, David Belton, writer David Wolstencroft, Film Education and our friends at The Aegis Trust have all contributed to what will be not only a fantastic edition of the film but also a superb educational resource for anyone involved with, or interested in, this area of soial and political history.

A full list of the disc's special features will be up shortly.

'Shooting Dogs' is available for PRE-ORDER today at www.amazon.co.uk , www.play.com and www.sendit.com

2006-05-05T02:40:00.000-07:00

THIS WEEKEND'S NEW VENUES (From Friday 5th May).

SHOOTING DOGS will be showing in the following new sites from Friday 5th May:

Orpheus Bristol
Strode Theatre
Ipswich Film Theatre
New Park Chichester
Plymouth Arts
Bristol Watershed

2006-04-28T07:06:00.000-07:00

THIS WEEKEND'S NEW VENUES (From Friday 28th April):

SHOOTING DOGS will be showing in the following new sites from Friday 28th April:

Phoenix Cinema, Oxford
Lonsdale Cinema, Carlisle
Harbourlights, Southampton
Arts Picturehouse, Cambridge
Watermans, Brentford
Warwicks Arts Centre
MAC, Birmingham
Chapter, Cardiff
Pictureville, Bradford
Picturehouse, Exeter
Playhouse, Sevenoaks

2006-04-27T02:11:00.000-07:00

SHOOTING DOGS screens in the US:

Shooting Dogs Screening at McNeese University, Lake Charles, Louisiana,
USA. 24th April 2004.

I'm just back from USA where Shooting Dogs was screened to 500 people in Lake Charles, Louisiana. It was a wonderful evening - full of emotion and warmth. McNeese runs a yearly cultural series of events for members of the Lake Charles community. Our film was just one of those events. I guess I wondered whether people would be interested in our film - given how far Lake Charles is from Africa and, more importantly, how it suffered terribly at the hands of Hurricane Rita late last year - whole communities were destroyed, people are having to rebuild their lives. But they came to the film in their hundreds. I watched as car upon car arrived. It was tremendous to see so many people come to see the film and to witness their genuine feeling and interest in this story from Africa. I have been to many screenings for this film now but rarely have I seen such emotion, such raw feeling on display, such genuine interest from young and old. It made me more certain than ever that there is a huge US audience that wants and deserves to see this film.

Producer David Belton

2006-04-12T10:52:00.000-07:00

Cecile Kayirebwa - Rwandan Vocalist featured on the Shooting Dogs soundtrack.

The beautiful, moving voice of Cecile Kayirebwa features throughout SHOOTING DOGS, functioning at key moments in the film to heighten its emotive impact. Cecile is well loved in her homeland Rwanda and beyond. She has just finished her new album 'Ibihozo' ('Lullabies'). It is her 3rd album after 7 years of silence.

Listen online at
www.ceka-i-rwanda.com

2006-04-11T05:02:00.000-07:00

New Dates & Event.

From this Friday (14th April), SHOOTING DOGS will be playing at the Odeon Mezzanine in Leicester Square & the Curzon Mayfair.
The film is also now confirmed to open at Plymouth Arts Centre Cinema on May 5th.

There will be an exclusive SHOOTING DOGS event taking place on the film's opening night at The Cambridge Arts Picturehouse. The 6pm screening on Friday 21st April will be followed by a Q&A session with experts on Rwanda and The Great Lakes Region from AMMESTY INTERNATIONAL.

For more information on the event and to book tickets please call the Cambridge Arts Picturehouse box office on: 08707 551 242

2006-04-04T09:05:00.000-07:00

DFID Shooting Dogs Screening

Report from The Department for International Development (DFID) on a SHOOTING DOGS screening that took place last week.

On Wednesday 29 March the Department for International Development (DFID) took up the invitation from Metrodome to host a screening of Shooting Dogs and a panel discussion for staff of the Department. The panel included the DFID director general for regional programs, His Excellency Claver Gatete, Rwandan Ambassador to the UK and David Belton, the producer and co-author of the film.

The film was screened simultaneously in DFID’s London and East Kilbride offices. Many of the audience had extensive experience of working in Rwanda both in the aftermath of the genocide and in the subsequent 12 years of rebuilding. The post screening Q and A session provided a chance to tap this experience and share views about the film and Rwanda today.

DFID was grateful for the opportunity to preview the film. The UK government has been the largest bilateral donor to Rwanda throughout the rebuilding process and the film contributes to an understanding of the context of this support.

2006-03-31T01:47:00.000-08:00

WHAT THE CRITICS ARE SAYING

"An undeniably powerful & important piece of work." Jonathan Ross, Film 2005

"A well-crafted, beautifuly acted, powerful picture…a deeply emotional epic…a fine film…John Hurt gives a masterful, Oscar-quality performance as Father Christopher." Chris Tookey, Daily Mail ****

"Stunning." Dave Aldridge, BBC Radio 5 Live

"Superb." Adam Sweeting, Uncut ****

"An extraordinarily powerful film with a great performance from John Hurt...a must see." Baz Bamigboye, Daily Mail.

"Outstanding...You must see this film." Henry Fitzherbert, Sunday Express *****

"Great conviction, compassion & power." Geoff Andrew, Time Out ****

"The restrained, quietly devastating SHOOTING DOGS is the reason you want to become a film-maker in the first place. An intelligent, unflinching human picture that generally avoids the twin traps of sentimentality and melodrama, this is a highly commendable drama with a performance of immense compassion from John Hurt." Allan Hunter, Daily Express ****

"Shooting Dogs is in many ways a fine piece of work, well shot and directed with some honesty…there is no denying the awful truth of what it says, the strong performance from Hurt and the commendable way in which Caton-Jones marshals his cinematic forces." Derek Malcolm, Evening Standard ****

"The second film dealing with the Rwandan genocide to get a UK release, Shooting Dogs is a much harder watch than the Oscar-nominated Hotel Rwanda. It's also, in many ways, far superior…a finely nuanced screenplay, subtle performances and a gritty authenticity…Unapologetically grim, but remarkable and moving nevertheless" Ian Winterton, Hotdog ****

"Thoughtful and necessarily shocking." The Irish Times ****

"In a world inured to the pasteurised versions of Hollywood stories, occasionally we see something that is still raw enough to shake us, to move us, to make us feel. Shooting Dogs is just such a film…Moments in this film will stay with you for a lifetime...an unsettling, incredible experience." Psychologies Magazine *****

"…promises to be one of the most talked about movies of 2006…an emotionally draining film…a hard-hitting film…Heatrtbreaking and brilliant." Mark Eccleston, Glamour *****

"The third fiction film about the Rwandan tragedy in less than a year, Shooting Dogs is the most straightforward and thus the most powerful. Hugh Dancy is excellent...John Hurt is superb." Nick Roddick, Evening Standard.

"In many respects a more stylish, authentic, tougher-minded film than HOTEL RWANDA... respectable and well- intentioned" Variety.

"A shoestring heartstopper…the best film of Caton-Jones' career…one of the best political films of the year. It's a tougher and more mature film than the Oscar-nominated HOTEL RWANDA" Kevin Maher, The Times (Knowledge)

"2006's most powerful film" Harpers & Queen

"...piercingly heartfelt and memorable." Anthony Quinn, The Independent.

"The film left me feeling shattered. It was so real, I felt I was right back there in the middle of the madness. The film is the most powerful portrayal of that terrible time. What happened in Rwanda wasn't just about Rwanda - it was about all of us. The film brilliantly captures that central truth. A Brilliant and Powerful film." Fergal Keane, BBC Newsnight

"A film of some magnitude, packed with moving and sensitive performances… Dancy's performance is gripping… Rarely have I seen a film this devastating. While it's never pleasant viewing, it's a film I implore you to make sure you see. Absolutely and unequivocally, you must see Shooting Dogs." Jeremy Allen, PlayLouder.Com

"Shooting Dogs is an astonishing and important film which everyone should go see; not only to learn about what happened in Rwanda, but to also appreciate a well-crafted, well-acted movie that examines the difficult decisions people are forced to make in extreme situations. I challenge you not to be affected by its power." Sara MacDonnell, Music OMH Online *****

"A gripping tale." Anwar Brett, Film Review ****

"The thunderous applause at the end of the London Film Festival screening of Shooting Dogs, mixed with the sounds of people still attempting to sniff back their tears, sums up the experience of the film better than any words could...Shooting Dogs is definitely worth seeing...This film portrays the events in an emotional, realistic way, and does not flinch from showing the callous and indifferent attitude of the rest of the world. It brings the story to life and makes all of us question what we would do if faced with similar circumstances...Don't miss this poignant portrayal of the Rwanda genocide. It's a moving story that will stay with you and force you to consider some uncomfortable but necessary questions." Laura Horwitz, 6 Degrees Film Online.

2006-03-30T03:34:00.000-08:00

UK Charity Premiere of Shooting Dogs

The Curzon Cinema Mayfair in Central London will tonight host the UK Premiere of Shooting Dogs.

This charity evening will be held in conjunction with AEGIS, One-to-One, Streets Ahead Children's Centre (Rwanda) and Rwanda Aid. A proportion of tickets for the Premiere have been allocated to these charities to help raise money for Rwanda and its people.

All the cast and crew will be in attendence along with a host of celebrities including Annie Lennox, Nick Broomfield and Siobhan Hewlitt.
Come down and show your support.

2006-03-30T01:50:00.000-08:00

SHOOTING DOGS KIGALI PREMIERE

Rwanda‘s President Paul Kagame endorses SHOOTING DOGS:

"The film as such is going to be a continued part of our memory relating to the genocide and I think that memory needs to be kept" President Kagame

A report by Arthur Asiimwe (Ely Times & County: Land of the Trees Local News Leader)

A new film on Rwanda‘s genocide reduced many survivors to tears at its premiere in Kigali but President Paul Kagame said on Tuesday the movie would help to ensure memories of the mass murder were kept alive.

Survivor Claudine Nyirumwiza emerged from watching the film on Monday night with tears rolling down her face.

"I hate a machete. I hate seeing a machete anywhere because it reminds me the pain of slow death that my close relatives went through," she said.

Her two brothers, sister and father were among 800,000 minority Tutsis and politically moderate Hutus shot, hacked and beaten to death by extremist Hutu militias in 1994.

Despite a heavy downpour, the premiere of "Shooting Dogs" drew some 1,500 people to Kigali‘s Amahoro stadium, where thousands sought refuge during the 100 days of killing.

The film‘s title refers to the way UN troops shot dogs eating the corpses that littered the streets of the Rwandan capital.

A genocide survivor group has accused the film-makers of causing fresh trauma to many survivors who worked as extras.

But Kagame defended the film, one of several recent accounts of the bloodletting.

"The film as such is going to be a continued part of our memory relating to the genocide and I think that memory needs to be kept," he told reporters.

Shot in Rwanda and starring British actors John Hurt and Hugh Dancy, the film depicts the story of a Roman Catholic priest and a teacher caught up in the genocide.

Kagame said it was the events of 1994 that caused pain, not films about them.

"If it is a film built on what happened here in 1994 naturally it recreates the scenes that affect people," he said.

"I think it is not the film that traumatizes them but it‘s what happened to them."

The film portrays the massacre at Kigali‘s Ecole Technique Officielle, run by priests and home to Belgian U.N. troops.

At least 2,500 Tutsis took refuge there during the initial days of the genocide. But when UN soldiers pulled out, Hutu Interahamwe militias quickly overran the school and within hours most of the men, women and children were dead.

"The film should be a reminder of the mistakes made in our history by Rwandans but also by international community because they had a responsibility one way or another in which they failed," Kagame said.

2006-03-30T01:30:00.000-08:00

Thank You

We want to say a big thank you to all those that have been following and contributing to this blog. We are delighted with the array of interesting discussions that have featured on the site and we hope the information on the site has been of interest.

With the film released in the UK tomorrow, we want to try and maximise awareness of the film and the issues that it raises. We hope you will help us in ensuring that as many people as possible see this hugely important film. If you could copy the embedded image below onto an email and forward it to your contacts, it would be hugely appreciated. Thanks again for your support. Keep checking the blog, there's a lot more to come!

2006-03-30T01:25:00.000-08:00

INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION: A note from producer Pippa Cross

Dear all, especially all the international bloggers.

It has been wonderful to watch the response to the film and to the issues on the blog, and in particular to watch the map of the world alight with people who care enough about what happened in Rwanda in 1994 to engage with our film and its message. It is a big moment for the film in the UK - it opens in cinemas on Friday, mostly in the major cities to start with, but soon to follow elsehwere.

But it is also part of our job to ensure that the many enthusiastic distributors worldwide, who have licensed the film to play in their territories, receive as much support from us as we can offer, and we are in touch with many of them regarding promotion, materials and of course connecting them with the worldwide audience now using this blog. Post specific requests and we will try to answer them

The film will eventually be seen in nearly every country in the world. Which is really important to us as it sends a strong message to Rwanda that we can all share in their pain and in their progress forwards.

We still need to secure a distributor in the United States and will be pushing hard on that one in the coming months, so keep the lobbying going please!

On a less global note, this film is hitting cinemas just as the UK Film Council's new digital network starts to come truly on line - I had the pleasure of watching Shooting Dogs at the Hawkhurst Kino last week, projected digitally, and it was a really good 'cinematic' experience, and a full house. Make sure you clamour to get it programmed at any new digital venue near you please

Pippa Cross
Producer

2006-03-29T08:05:00.000-08:00

Shooting Dogs and The National Theatre

NATIONAL THEATRE SPECIAL OFFER

THE OVERWHELMING by J.T.Rogers

A chilling thriller in which no-one is quite what they seem.

1994. When a struggling American academic and his family arrive in beautiful, tiny Rwanda they find themselves out of their depth.

Jack makes enemies by investigating a mysterious and unsolved disappearance. His teenage son hits Kigali’s nightclubs and his ambitious new wife goes on a sightseeing trip that not even her Detroit childhood has prepared her for.

A gripping story of a country on the brink of genocide.

SPECIAL OFFER £5 off top two prices on 9 May (£20 £15) and £5 off top price tickets 10 – 13 May (£28).

Call 020 7452 3000 and quote ‘SHOOTING DOGS OFFER’ when booking.

www.nationaltheatre.org.uk South Bank, London, SE1 9PX

2006-03-28T06:12:00.000-08:00

Shooting Dogs World Premiere

Last night the World Premiere of Shooting Dogs took place in a stadium in Kigali to 1,500 guests.

In attendance was the Culture Minister Habineza Joseph and many families who survived the genocide.

"The film-making was a most rewarding experience for the thousands of Rwandans who participated," said Mr Habineza.

"The story that is told in the film is an important contribution to this country's recent history and I believe can help in the process of reconciliation that we have been building in Rwanda for more than a decade," he added.

The UK Premiere will take place on Thursday night and the film opens nationwide on Friday.

Yesterday's streaming of The Roadblock Scene has proved very popular so we've decided to keep the link up until tomorrow.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE ROADBLOCK SCENE

2006-03-27T01:57:00.000-08:00

THE ROADBLOCK SCENE

Shooting Dogs is released this coming Friday with the premiere taking place tonight in Kigali - Rwanda.

Last week we looked at the roadblock scene and as promised, you can now see the scene here on the blog!

To access the scene, click on the link below. If you'd like to know more about the scene itself, browse through last weeks entries to see breakdowns of the scene including stills, camera setups and cast and crew thoughts.

-keep your views coming

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE ROADBLOCK SCENE FROM SHOOTING DOGS

*this link will be taken down at 2.00pm GMT tomorrow

2006-03-24T09:09:00.000-08:00

Roadblock Scene: streaming on Monday

All this week we have been breaking down a single scene from Shooting Dogs; ‘The roadblock scene’. We have heard from the cast and crew, seen the script, read the producer’s comments and the director’s notes and camera plots.

The scene itself will be shown on this site on Monday.

The clip is split into two sections showing the van carrying Joe being stopped at the roadblock and then the interrogation of it's occupants by the Interahamwe.

The scene will be available for you to view for 24hours.

2006-03-24T02:25:00.000-08:00

The Roadblock Scene : Diary Entry from Paul Morris, 2nd Assistant Director

The road blocks were difficult for several reasons.

They were obviously shot in open, public places which needed to be carefully controlled in order to avoid alarming the locals for many of whom the events of 1994 are a recent and terrifying memory. We were painfully aware of the potential dangers of reawakening the nightmares which many of these folk had lived through.

Another challenge was to recruit and rehearse the 'Interahamwe' and the 'victims'. Clearly we had a responsibility to keep the atmosphere around the set as light and good natured as possible and, with the certain knowledge that many of those playing the Tutsi victims were re-enacting their real-life traumas of 1994, we took that responsibility very seriously indeed...

On the whole it was remarkable how all the locals applied themselves to the task and it became clear that there was a very real will to work together for the common good. Our film seemed to be perceived locally as an opportunity to remind the world of their tragic story and I am quite sure that this was why we received so much help and co-operation across the board from the survivors association to the Rwandan armed forces. It has to be said that, without their help and participation, the film probably wouldn't have been possible.

Without doubt, working on Shooting Dogs was an incredible and humbling experience and I remain immensely grateful for the opportunity.

Paul Morris - 2nd Assistant Director

2006-03-24T02:18:00.000-08:00

The Roadblock Scene : Diary Entry from actor Hugh Dancy

One thing that MCJ and I discussed a lot while filming Shooting Dogs was the way in which the film's descent into horror and chaos is a very gradual one, one that is often suggested rather than shown, and therefore - since of course we were filming completely out of sequence - how careful we had to be during the shoot in judging the tone of each scene, even though in and of themselves they might be relatively inconsequential. In fact, rather than any particular moment of drama, the subtle developement in tone itself often seemed to be the point of a scene (along with smuggling in a few important historical facts about Rwanda to assist the audience's understanding). And since Joe is in many ways a conduit for the audience's response, I found myself marking out his own emotional journey in a similarly incremental way, charting what I hoped would be a delicate progression from innocence into naievety and ultimately into a kind of denial.

But the roadblock sequence is an exception. Joe - and the audience - brutally smash into the reality of what is happening on the streets of Rwanda outside the confines of the ETO and of his entrenched optimism, and so the two days we spent shooting it stand out in my mind. It felt different at the time (not least because of the heat trap that built up in the small valley we filmed in, and even a mini-tornado that ripped up the courtyard where we were eating lunch. I couldn't quite understand the level of hilarity that this caused until I saw Sande, one of the most charming and louche members of the crew, emerge sheepishly from under the table where he had flung himself).

However for all the unaccustomed violence of the scene, one image stands out in my mind - the silent look that Kennedy gave me. Kennedy played the Tutsi who is kneeling by the side of the road when we arrive and are forced to our knees, and although his subsequent death is one of the most shocking moments of the film, for me the look that him and Joe share resonates further. It is not pleading, not accepting, not despairing, not even quite fearful, and the way that it escapes or surpasses definition encapsulates the horror of the genocide that utterly defies our attempts to sum it up or pin it down. An amazing piece of acting I suppose, but I think more than that. I don't know Kennedy's own story, but for me that moment - along with other visceral moments in the scene, not least from actors playing militia members - is the most powerful demonstration of why we couldn't have made this film anywhere but in Rwanda, with Rwandans.

As a coda it is worth mentioning that Kennedy is the father of the boy who played one of Joe's pupils, and so between takes we stood happily discussing his son while other actors from the roadblock horsed around with the crew, posing for photos as Michael's 'bodyguard'. Joseph, the muscular militia member who throws me to the ground and thrusts a rifle in my face, eagerly encouraged me to visit the club where he worked as a bouncer. In a way these incongruities are the same as one finds on most filmsets - Guy Fawkes doing the crossword in the corner while someone touches up his wig etc etc - but the utter extremes of joy and tragedy, of people so warmly allowing us access to the most terrible period of their history, best represent what made our time working on this movie the most humbling, at times heartbreaking but ultimately rewarding experience of my life. Hugh Dancy

2006-03-23T23:18:00.000-08:00

The Roadblock Scene : The Script

Below are pages from the original SHOOTING DOGS script. These pages refer to the roadblock scene that we will streaming on this site soon.

Click on each page enlarge. (NOTE: You may need to enlarge the image further once you have clicked through to it.)

2006-03-23T11:18:00.000-08:00

The Roadblock Scene : Director's Notes, Shooting Set-Ups & Final Shots.

Scene 80 - Description
The school truck carries Joe and two TV journalists through the deserted Kigali streets towards the ETO. They are stopped at a roadblock, which is manned by Interahamwe militia, and the terrifying lawlessness of the genocide becomes apparent.

The Directors View
As a director, the first thing you need to do is figure out what it is you are trying to say with a scene. This does not mean dialogue. In its simplest form, every scene is a part of a larger story and it has to play its part in the furthering of that story. ALL scenes must fulfill that primary function with no exceptions.
In scene 80 there were 2 main aspects for me to consider: Character needs and story needs

A. One thread in the larger story was the emotional journey of Joe (Hugh Dancy) from wide-eyed idealist to guilt-ridden survivor. This scene was important in regard to his character because it marked the point in his journey that he crossed over into territory that was beyond his, or indeed anyone else’s, experience and comprehension.

B. This was a significant scene in terms of the audience’s knowledge of what was happening outside the confines of the ETO compound. The contrast had to be made between the atmosphere on the streets and the relative safety of the school. It was important to convey three things:

The idea that danger was omnipresent.
The casual and sudden unpredictability of violence.
To give that danger a face (as the Interahamwe turn up at ETO immediately after this)
Once you have decided what you want to say the next stage is working out HOW these ideas take physical form.

Shooting Sketches

Below are Michael Caton-Jones' sketches for the roadblock scene. (Click each image to enlarge.) These sketches provide details of the camera set-up for the sequence as well as individual descriptions for each shot.

Sketch No.1 : Overview
In this sketch, Michael constructs a general overview of the structure of the roadblock scene. He has deconstructed the scene into 5 distinct sequences of action, Parts A-E. The diagram in the bottom-left corner fo the sketch describes the general movement of the characters within the scene.

Sketch No.2 : Parts A & B
.
This sketch provides more detail about the individual shots that will make up Part A (the travelling of the truck along the dirt track) & Part B (the stopping of the truck where Joe and his fellow passengers are yanked out of the truck by the interahamwe).

Each shot is listed in the column on the right-hand side whilst the diagrams on the left describe the movement of the characters along with the positioning and direction of the cameras.

By clicking on the link below, you can see how the final shots of each sequence came out.

Images form Part A
Images from Part B

Sketch No.3 : Parts C & D/E

This sketch provides a breakdown of each of the shots that will make up Part C (where tensions rise between Joe, Rachel, Mark and the interahamwe and where Joe witnesses a Tutsi murder at the roadside), and Part D/E (where Joe recognises one of the interahamwe and where Joe, Mark & Rachel eventually escape the situation.)

Again, each shot is numbered in the columns, and the movement of the characters and positioning/direction of the cameras is depicted in the diagrams.

Click on the links below to see how the final shots came out.

Images from Part C
Images from Part D/E

Tomorrow we will be posting comments from other cast & crew members about their personal experiences on shooting this particular scene.

2006-03-22T04:46:00.000-08:00

Director's thoughts.

Michael Caton-Jones on Shooting Dogs.

It was the sound that got me. Some sounds are so visceral they transcend words. You feel them in your stomach. We had been standing, my crew and I, as the sun dappled through the trees on to red-dirt African schoolyard, about to make our first shot of the day. We all stopped working as a minibus bounced noisily out the gates. It was full of teenage schoolgirls screeching and yelling. In any other place that would have been unremarkable, the heady chemical mixture of age and innocence on a school outing.

But here, in Rwanda, it was not a benign noise. The screams were not ones of youthful delight. This sound was terror. The hysterical reliving of personal horrors. A half-dozen private hells being given human voice. And I had been partially responsible.

The previous evening we had filmed a group of extras parading noisily as the notorious, machete-wielding Interahamwe militia. We were always careful to keep these scenes hidden from the public for fear of causing undue distress. We had made the shots, packed up and gone home. However, a nearby dormitory of students heard the chanting and whistling and it had triggered a series of panicked flashbacks among them. Twelve hours later they were still in trauma, and the minibus was taking them to be hospitalised. It was then that I really understood the seriousness and responsibility of what I was doing.

I was in Rwanda to film Shooting Dogs, an account of what happened at the Ecole Technique Officielle (ETO) during the first five days of what became known as the Rwandan genocide.

When you tell people you were in Rwanda, you often see a look of hazy recognition in their eyes. They know something horrific occurred there, but the details tend to be vague. For many, the word Rwanda has become a simplistic symbol for Darkest Africa, home of the bestial and barbaric. In representing a specifically Third World madness, it neatly fuses lazy racial preconceptions with a frighteningly widespread First World ignorance. It was something "they" did to each other, over "there".

Of course, it didn't stop those looks of hazy recognition from taking on a vicarious glint. So, what was it like? Was it safe? What did you see? (Subtext: tell me about the machetes.) I was probably like that myself before I went there.

On the night of 6 April 1994, persons unknown shot down Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana's plane. He was a Hutu. His killing was the catalyst of a civil war, as furious Hutu extremists in the military and police force took control of the government and sent death squads into the streets. State radio branded the minority Tutsi as the enemy and urged loyal Hutu citizens, the majority, to do their duty and defend the country against this "enemy within". In effect, to kill them all.

The outside world knew what was happening and chose to do nothing as Rwanda turned into a living hell. Almost a million people were hunted down and slaughtered in three months.

What happened at the ETO is sometimes referred to as Rwanda's Srebrenica. For five days, the sprawling campus in a suburb of Kigali became a sanctuary of sorts for about 2,500 Rwandans, mostly Tutsis but also some moderate Hutu and Western expatriates. They came to escape the lawlessness and violence that was everywhere, and for protection from the Belgian United Nations troops billeted there. The school quickly became surrounded by squads of the murderous Interahamwe.

What happened next was as shameful as it was symbolic. French troops arrived to evacuate only white expatriates. No Rwandans, no exceptions. Immediately after this was accomplished, the UN contingent abandoned the compound, leaving the terrified men, women and children to a certain death. Most were killed within hours of the UN leaving.

I initially went to Rwanda in 2004 to see if it was feasible to make this film there. I don't know what I expected to find, but whatever I expected, it wasn't what I got.

Physically, the Land of a Thousand Hills is a quite beautiful country, lush verdant green during the rainy season and parched dusty red when dry. It isn't what I would imagine a typically African landscape. No wild, wide plains full of animals here, just hills. Many of those thousand hills are terraced, planted with crops, cultivated and tended. It was testimony, both to overpopulation and extreme poverty, that it looked so agricultural, more Tuscany than The Lion King. It did, however, explain the ubiquitousness of the machete.

In Kigali, the boisterous capital, * * developed and undeveloped world co-exist. I could get a broadband connection in the hotel but would sit in darkness on my balcony and watch as the daily power cuts blacked out hillsides all around.

The Rwandese like to dress smartly and many people carry mobile phones, but many more are in bare feet and ragged T-shirts, carrying yellow plastic containers to get water from communal taps because they have none at home.

They like their football and are very clued-up about the English football leagues and their players. I often spotted obscure club shirts on children in the streets ("Oh Irony, Thy Name Is Sheffield United. Nickname: The Blades!"). The shirts were all in the fashions of a few years ago because they had arrived by way of aid packages, the discards of a more affluent world elsewhere.

All in all, though, my initial impression was of a functioning country, vibrant and peaceful and, apart from the parliament building, still pock-marked by shells, showing few physical signs of the war.

It's when you begin talking to people that you realise the scars are all psychological. They are hidden, but they're everywhere. Once you understand that, you encounter the all-encompassing horror of genocide. It's estimated that 94 per cent of the entire population witnessed some kind of extreme violence during the genocide.

The Rwandans are a reserved people, not given much to histrionic outward displays of emotion. People continually used "the war" as a reference point in their conversation: "before the war" "during the war" and "after the war". It was as if by placing their experiences into one of those three phrases the whole emotional geography of their situation could be instantly understood. Life was innocent, or it was terrifying, or it was grief stricken. There was nothing more to say because everyone understood.

Realising that many of the shy smiles on display were a mask, to disguise some unutterable private devastation they were bound to carry around for ever, only increased this sense of melancholy and sadness.

Talking to survivors (and almost the entire country is a survivor) there was often a complete lack of emotion in their stories, just an unaffected retelling - the unimaginable terror and suffering, the horrific loss, the emptiness and guilt of their survival all told in an open, unsensational way. I would often be asked: "Why did no one do anything to help? Did no one care?" Of course I had no answer except: "We didn't know," which sounded marginally less offensive than: "We didn't care." They then say: "You must tell the world what happened here, this must never happen again." The simplicity of expression and the lack of manipulation had a deep effect on me. It became a key to how this story should be told. Just tell it. Honestly.

I knew there was no film-making infrastructure in Rwanda and that it could quite possibly be a very miserable experience all round - but, for fuck's sake, it was their story. How could it not be made there? I decided that, however difficult, we had to film in Rwanda; we had to shoot at the ETO. And we had to make the film with survivors of the genocide. They had to be allowed to tell their story.

Now, I sincerely believe that the real films about what happened in Rwanda will only be made when the Rwandans can make them for and about themselves, but at the moment, that ability didn't exist. In the meantime, though, Shooting Dogs could partially redress the persistent Western ignorance on the subject.

A film creates a sizeable financial knock-on effect anywhere it's made, injecting money that normally wouldn't be there into the local economy. Naturally, in a country as poor as Rwanda, this created a frenzied desire for jobs. A day's work as an extra paid US$16 (about £9), a vast sum, and there were often huge crowds every dawn as people looked for employment. We couldn't hire them all, of course, but, more worryingly, it was also likely that we'd be hiring people who had taken a part in the killings in 1994. I may not know who they were, but others certainly would and this could cause any degree of tension.

For all practical purposes a film set is not a democracy; at best, it's a benign dictatorship. To that end, I made a policy decision early on that there would be no differentiation among employees by way of race, nationality, ethnicity or gender.

The experienced would train the inexperienced; the local would look after the foreigner; Rwandese, German, Belgian, Ugandan, European, Tutsi, Hutu, even the English, were all just crew members. We weren't being saintly, just practical; we had to integrate people into one unit for the duration. Of course it would be naive to think this solved every difference, but not wanting to lose the financial benefits of working on the film helped to keep any resentments at a distance.

Words take on a different meaning to the people who've actually lived them. Imagine that you're terrified. Imagine that you think you are going to be killed. Imagine you are watching your mother being macheted. Imagine saying goodbye to your children before they die. Imagine watching UN soldiers save the dogs of white people but refuse to help Rwandese. Most of my cast and crew endured all this and tragically much more. Yet still they thought it important to recreate these scenes as faithfully and accurately as possible, so that we could "tell the world what happened there".

I spent more than five months there; it was some of the most exhilarating, exasperating, humbling, life-affirming time I have spent on the planet.

One night I was sitting around with an elderly Rwandan. We were sipping cold Mutzig beer and eating spicy goat brochette. He was educated and multilingual - and he had lost a child and a limb in what he called "the war". He spoke without rancour, but his voice dropped and he became barely audible as he recalled what happened to him at the Ecole Technique Officielle.

I asked him how he felt about the West or the United Nations now. He said he had been angry, very angry, for a long time, but that he had eventually reached a realisation. He quoted George Orwell's Animal Farm: "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others. I think that Rwandans were the wrong animals."

Recently, at a screening for Shooting Dogs in a plush London theatre, I was asked a question by a rather smug film-industry type: why make another film with white men in Africa? Wasn't it really just more exploitation?

Poor old fucking Africa.

Black first, human second.

Hair-splitting like that was why no one did anything about the genocide in the first place. Of course, his was a notion born of a privileged ignorance, a politically correct nicety so hollow and irrelevant to the Rwandan reality that I cringed for them in absentia.

I wanted to tell him that he had missed the point. Spectacularly so. I wanted to tell him about the survivors' stories I'd heard, about the gut-wrenching wailing of the traumatised schoolgirls, about how Rwandans just happened to be the "wrong animals". But I couldn't. In the end I could only say: "Because the Rwandans already know what happened. You don't."

-Michael Caton-Jones

2006-03-21T09:47:00.000-08:00

EXCLUSIVE Shooting Dogs scene preview this week.

At the end of this week, we will be streaming a scene from Shooting Dogs on the blog.

The specific scene that has been selected comes at a pivotal moment in the film where Joe (Hugh Dancy) encounters the Interahamwe militia at a roadblock. Director Michael Caton-Jones carefully constructs the scene to augment the tension and impact of this compelling scene.

In the run-up to the exclusive streaming, we will be deconstructing the scene itself and looking at its specific directorial elements in more detail.

We will be posting diary entries from the film's cast and crew that talk of their individual experiences of shooting this highly sensitive scene. Extracts from the original script, Michael Caton-Jones' sketches of the filming process and on-set photos will also be posted in the run-up to the streaming of the clip.

Make sure you keep checking back to see when we will be showing the clip.

To begin, here is Producer David Belton’s diary entry from shooting that day:

August 10th 2004

We’re filming outside the school in a district of Kigali. It’s the roadblock scene where Joe and the BBC reporter, Rachel and her cameraman, Mark, are pulled out of the school truck and held at gunpoint. It was always a vital scene for me and certainly for David Wolstencroft, our screenwriter. It is here, mid way through the drama that Joe has to confront the reality of what is happening in Rwanda – that there are events going on that are far beyond his control. It’s a moment that many people I know have faced – when all the moral and emotional compass points go awry and we are left floundering, not knowing which way to turn and, crucially, not knowing what will happen.

To me it was always important because it neatly skewered the western arrogance that exists: that somehow we in the West can provide solutions and that our method of fixing things always works. The reality is different and in 2006 we see it every day as we read in our newspapers about Iraq, Darfur, Iran and Afghanistan.

It’s a personal story too since the roadblock happened to me back in 1994. We were pulled out of our car and held at gunpoint and, helpless, we watched a man being dragged away and butchered.

David Wolstencroft is a natural and very gifted writer. Action flows off his pen – or his keyboard - and he has written a scene that is fluid, that builds and never shows off the cleverness of writing a scene like this without resorting to melodrama or glamorising it. Most important, it feels true.

And I sense that Michael Caton-Jones has been looking forward to this scene. As we stand and gather at the beginning of the day there is a spring in MC-J’s step. It’s almost as though this is a chance to show us all why he’s doing this film – how he can extract the absolute maximum from a scene. We are a small budget feature and Michael, often used to bigger spends, has had to hold back on many occasions from where his natural instincts would want to take him. Not today. Today, he’s really up for it – ready to show what he can get out of a single scene.
And sure enough it becomes clear that Michael will shoot more “slates” (effectively different angles and “takes”) than any single scene up to this point in the shoot. He cajoles the cast into some great performances. Hugh is brilliant – allowing himself to be thrown around by the militia as they pull him out of the car – a look of increasing bewilderment and fear etched across his face, take after take, hour after hour. Nicola is a stunning actress, always holding something back in her performance, utterly believable and brilliantly playing against the tiresome movie cliché of a macho journalist – she’s playing it scared-but-trying-to-be-in-control which is at it should be. And Jack surpasses himself as he and a Rwandan actor struggle over the camera – it becomes more and more improvisational, more and more believable, a series of electrifying takes. Kennedy, our Tutsi victim, is equally believable, on his knees, quietly trembling. His performance drives home the terrible reality of 1994.

The other Rwandans excel themselves – several of the cast submerge themselves into their parts as interahamwe killers and yet as soon as the take is over they rush over to Hugh or Nicola and check they haven’t been too rough on them. It’s endearing and funny and as the sun creeps round the valley and Michael relentlessly pursues the scene until he is sure he has got all that he wants, there is a real energy and passion from all the cast and crew. A day when the story and the all the people involved in it become so focussed that the movements, the direction and the performances seem to flow. Even the first assistant director, Mark, seems more relaxed today. It’s been a very tough job for Mark – with limited resources he has galvanised the crew and the extras and given Michael many options to keep this film cinematic – to never let it disappear into smallness. But today the only worry he seems to have is getting the scene finished on time. I think – as we all do – that we won’t get it all today, that we’ll be back tomorrow. But that’s fine. More important than finishing the scene is giving Michael everything he needs to put together a fundamental moment in the film. It’s a morale boost for the film – a pivotal moment in the shoot and worth overrunning for.

But it’s also a tough day for lots of us. Somehow, typically, it’s hotter than usual and our extras are bravely working in the heat of the day – as interahamwe pacing around the roadblock or as bodies lying on the dirt road. We rush around with umbrellas and cups of water – I seem to spend a lot of time ordering more 10 litre kegs of water to keep our extras hydrated. But they never complain despite the harrowing nature of the scene. I watch the first take of Kennedy’s death and then decide I don’t need to see this any more. Too many memories. I go for a walk.

In the distance, over in the fields is a small group of boys, playing football but with half an eye on what the film crew is up to. I sit down and watch them and after a while we get chatting. I tell them in my awful French what we are doing. One of the boys, Laurent, tells me he is fourteen and that one day he wants to be a doctor. We talk about school and how crap it is doing homework. He wears an old tattered shirt and a pair of shorts that, I would guess, were worn by his three older brothers before him. He is funny and very bright. I think about President Kagame’s desire to see children like Laurent succeed – that Rwanda’s future can only be safeguarded by education.

Laurent asks me if he can be an extra in the film. I tell him he has to turn up at half past five in the morning and hand a note I’ll write for him to Hope the casting director. It’s good money for his family – twelve thousand Rwandan francs – twenty dollars, more than a weekly manual wage in Kigali. I hand him the note and tell him he had better not come on a school day. He frowns at me disapprovingly. Of course not, he says. The boys rush off with their filthy old football and I wander back to the set.

-David Belton (Producer)

2006-03-20T04:02:00.000-08:00

SHOOTING DOGS RELEASE DATES AND VENUES

It is now less than 2 weeks until SHOOTING DOGS goes on general release at cinemas across the UK. Please find below the list of sites confirmed so far. You can click through to book tickets for any of the cinemas listed. This list will be updated as more sites are confirmed.

OPENS MARCH 31
Curzon Soho, London
Cineworld Shaftesbury Avenue, London
Screen on the Green, London
Barbican, London
Cineworld West India Quay, London
Picturehouse Greenwich, London
Ritzy Brixton, London
Cineworld Chelsea, London
The Coronet Notting Hill, London
VUE Shepherd's Bush, London
The Tricycle, London
Phoenix East Finchley, London
Cornerhouse, Manchester
Edinburgh Filmhouse, Edinburgh
Cineworld Glasgow Renfrew Street, Glasgow
IRELAND
Screen D'Olier Street
IMC Dun Laorie
Omniplex Mahon Cork
Cineworld Dublin

APRIL 14
Odeon Mezzanine, Leicester Square
Curzon Mayfair
Cineworld Cardiff
Cineworld Sheffield
Broadway Nottingham
Cineworld Birmingham
Tyneside Newcastle
City Screen York
Showroom Sheffield

APRIL 21
Arts Picturehouse, Cambridge
Peckham Plex
Bradford Pictureville
Cineworld Crawley
Picturehouse at FACT Liverpool
The Belmont Aberdeen

APRIL 28
Southampton Harbour Lights
Watermans, Brentford
Warwick Arts, Coventry
Chapter, Cardiff
MAC, Birmingham
Sevenoaks Playhouse
Phoenix Oxford

May 5
Watershed Bristol
Orpheus, Bristol
Ipswich Film Theatre
New Park Chichester
Plymouth Arts Centre

2006-03-16T02:52:00.000-08:00

Statement from Kate Allen, UK Director of Amnesty International + Fantastic photos from the event.

“Shooting Dogs is a hugely powerful and truly moving depiction of one of the most shocking events of the twentieth century...Michael Caton-Jones’ film magnificently brings one of recent history’s darkest
chapters to life and it does so with great humanity and insight...While never flinching from the true horror of the genocide, Shooting Dogs nevertheless succeeds in creating a brilliantly compelling drama...The Rwandan genocide shocked the world in 1994 but is now in danger of being forgotten by the international community...This important film helps to ensure that we do not forget.”

Kate Allen, UK Director of Amnesty International

2006-03-16T02:48:00.000-08:00

Photos!

With just over two weeks until Shooting Dogs is released in the Cinemas, I thought it would be a great time to add some new photos to the album.

The Shooting Dogs Photo Album contains production stills and also behind the scenes photographs.

Click here to see the full album.

enjoy...

Marie (Clare Hope-Ashitey)

Shooting Dogs

2006-03-15T06:08:00.000-08:00

The Archbishop of Birmingham sees Shooting Dogs

Below is a letter from Vincent Nichols (Archbishop of Birmingham)

Thank you very much indeed for your letter of the 22 February and for sending me a review copy of the BBC film Shooting Dogs.

I would like to express my appreciation of the film and to say how very moving I found it. It has clearly been made with great sensitivity, indeed affection, for all those caught up in the tragedy at the Ecole Technique Officielle. The film portrays the dilemmas faced by many people with perceptiveness and respect. I was particularly appreciative of the fact that if anything the film understates not only horrendous nature of what occurred, but also the human dilemmas. In this it leaves space for the viewers own imagination and reflection.

I was particularly impressed by the way the characters of Father Christopher and the young English teacher were drawn. The crises that they faced were not minimised nor over dramatised. I think everyone who sees this film will always retain a vivid memory of the terrible events that took place. They will also be drawn into a profound reflection on the limitations of human nature as well as the demanding summons of the Christian faith.

I am grateful to have had a chance to see this film and I look forward to its general release from the 31st March.

With every good wish,

Yours sincerely

Vincent Nichols
Archbishop of Birmingham

2006-03-14T00:20:00.000-08:00

Diary Seven:

26th July 2004

Few words for this. I’m lying on my bed, utterly shattered. Today was Day One of the filming. As I watched Mickey Reeves, the gaffer and his team of British and Rwandan electricians running cables, Rolf and Miriam fussing over the camera with Ivan, our Director of Photography, Michael pacing around, pulling on a cigarette, Hope rehearsing with the children at the edge of the athletics track, Sarah tweaking at Hugh’s make-up, Bertrand, our German production designer comes up to me. He puts an arm round my shoulder. “You see, it happens.” It seems, at that moment, inconceivable that we really are here making Shooting Dogs. But we are. Now I know why people do a “Gwynneth Paltrow” and cry when collecting film awards – it’s because the process of getting a film made is so damn hard, so draining that in the end, when it actually happens, there’s not much else you can do.

-David Belton (Producer)

Producers David Belton and Pippa Cross

2006-03-12T05:47:00.000-08:00

Next Sunday's Charity Screening

Pre-Release Charity Screening in association with The Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture.

Sunday 19th March, 1pm, The Tricycle Cinema, London.

Tickets include Q&A with 2006 BAFTA nominee, producer DAVID BELTON.

Tickets from £20 including pre-performance drink.
All funds raised go to The Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture.

For Ticket Information, please contact Carla Cornwell:
Email: events@torturecare.org.uk
Tel: 0207 697 7755

www.torturecare.org.uk
Charity Rg.No. 1000340

2006-03-10T03:38:00.000-08:00

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL EVENT SUCCESS!

SHOOTING DOGS screened to another full-house last night. This time at The Amnesty International UK Headquarters in London. The Director of Amnesty UK Kate Allen introduced the film and then joined the distinguished panel members for the question & answer session that followed the screening. SHOOTING DOGS director Michael Caton-Jones was joined by cast members John Hurt (Father Christopher) and Clare Hope Ashitey (Marie) to discuss the genocide and their experiences shooting the film in Rwanda.

It was an emotionally charged screening that left the audience stunned. The audience were moved to question the underlying motivations of the genocide, as well to discuss the experiences of the panel on making the film.

John Hurt remained philosophical, saying "There are no good people, there are no bad people. What happened in Rwanda isn't reserved for one specific element of humanity. We're all capable of terrible things. Hopefully this film will help make us all aware."

Michael Caton Jones described making the film as "a truly humbling experience".

The Q & A overran with many people talking to the director personally afterwards to try make sense of what they had seen.

2006-03-09T02:38:00.000-08:00

REACTIONS FROM THE PANELLISTS

Below are comments on SHOOTING DOGS from the panel members at The Doughty Street Chambers screening last Tuesday at the Everyman Cinema, Hampstead. Click on the picture below to read a report of the event published in The Guardian.

Geoffrey Robertson QC (leading Human Rights Lawyer):

'An enormously powerful and authentic film.'

Oona King MP (Founder of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Great Lakes Region and Genocide Prevention):
'I think it is a fantastic achievement that SHOOTING DOGS has been made. Everyone watching this film will be moved by it and I hope will then look into doing something about these international failures. The important message that runs through the film is ‘What can I do within my sphere of influence to make a difference?’, no matter how small that sphere may be.'

Claver Gatete (The Rwandan Ambassador to the UK):

'I want to thank the filmmakers because they have made a real contribution to Rwanda and the Rwandese…it is an important story for the outside world to know. For us, we have lived this situation…it is so difficult to really tell what happened…but here, they have really done their best. It has explained the failure of the United Nations, it has explained the sacrifices, but also the realities of how people are dying…there were, and are, people really in this situation. World headquarters are still struggling to define what genocide is. This film has tried to tell the whole story of the genocide in Rwanda, in the setting of Rwanda. The film is authentic, shot in Rwanda and with a lot of local participation…this makes it real. The Rwandese, the government officials and also President Kagame, who saw the film last week, believe that this was one of the best films to present the reality. It is the same language, the same people…it best shows how Rwanda was left on its own to deal with its own problems.'

Steven Crawshaw (UK Director of Human Rights Watch) :

'The film makes the issue incredibly clear that Rwanda was a massive international failure, a political failure and a media failure. The film clearly follows the old phrase that ‘all evil needs to triumph is for good man to stand by and do nothing’, and this was very much the case with Rwanda.'

Guy Vassell-Adams (Barrister at The Doughty Street Chambers & Author of the OXFAM report on the Rwandan Genocide) :

'It is a powerful and moving film…it conveyed very well the appalling moral dilemmas that foreigners in Rwanda found themselves in…it is a very powerful indictment of the failure of the UN to respond to genocide…it conveyed this very well. It was a wonderful thing that the film really involved the Rwandan people in the making of it. It is important for people that survived the genocide to know that their story is being told and is heard all over the world. A film like this plays a very important role in that , and I’m sure would be very much welcomed…'

Guardian Article

Guardian Article

-click on the picture to enlarge-

2006-03-08T09:42:00.000-08:00

EXCLUSIVE SHOOTING DOGS PRE-RELEASE EVENTS!!!

Upcoming Exclusive SHOOTING DOGS Events:

THURSDAY 9TH MARCH

Amnesty International UK Screening and Q&A.

Thursday 9th March, 6:30pm, Amnesty UK Headquarters, London.

Screening followed by Q&A session with John Hurt, Hugh Dancy, Clare Hope Ashitey & director Michael Caton-Jones.

SOLD OUT!!!

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SUNDAY 19TH MARCH

Pre-Release Charity Screening in association with The Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture.

Sunday 19th March, 1pm, The Tricycle Cinema, London.

Tickets include Q&A with 2006 BAFTA nominee, producer DAVID BELTON. Tickets from £20 including pre-performance drink.
All funds raised go to The Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture.

For Ticket Information, please contact Carla Cornwell:
Email: events@torturecare.org.uk
Tel: 0207 697 7755

www.torturecare.org.uk
Charity Rg.No. 1000340

WEDNESDAY 22ND MARCH
Pre-Release Screening at The BFI National Film Theatre, London.
Wednesday 22nd March, 6:15pm, National Film Theatre, Southbank, London.

Screening to be followed by a Q&A session with SHOOTING DOGS' Director Michael Caton-Jones and John Hurt.

For more information and to book tickets for this exclusive event, please visit:

http://www.bfi.org.uk/incinemas/nft/film/6327

NFT Box Office
020 7928 3232
Open 11.30am to 8.30pm

2006-03-07T11:34:00.000-08:00

Drew Wood - Line Producer of Shooting Dogs

'As a Line Producer I am responsible for preparing and supervising the budget, hiring the crew, controlling the film on a day to day basis and establishing a framework which will enable each department to maximise its potential in the making of the film.

In early 2004 I was invited by BBC Films to meet with David Belton, Ruth Caleb (Executive Producer) & Susy Liddell (BBC Films Head of Production) to discuss the film, SHOOTING DOGS. At this initial meeting it was clear to me that this script was a once in a career opportunity to involve myself in something more than a film. To that extent I grasped it with both hands believing the challenge would satisfy all my senses and aspirations. I was not to be disappointed.

A few months later after many meetings David, Michael & I headed for Kigali. What an experience it was to visit Rwanda for the first time, but what surprised me in my very polite English way, was that discussions about the genocide were very transparent and were always brought into the open even by the victims. Everyone you met had their own personal story and needed to tell it. One cannot possibly imagine without having been there in '94, how this period affected every man, woman & child throughout Rwanda and its neighbouring countries.

Now the question for me was, in a country with no film infrastructure, and more importantly with my limited budget, how could we make a feature film there and utilise the local populous into a professional film crew.

I was determined that this could and would work and so set myself the task of finding an initial small group of key people in Rwanda that I could work with. I was very fortunate that through some initial meetings I was able to meet with Maurice Nyaruhirra (Government Liaison), Juvens Ntampuhwe (Unit Manager), Yahaya Muvunyi (Locations & Local Community) & Hope Azida (Rwanda Casting Director). These four were to spearhead the Rwandese crew. I have to say that we relied on them totally for advice and guidance in all local matters.

The UK & German Crew were a delight to work with. There are not many times one can put ones hand on ones heart and say that one had found a near perfect group, all committed and all willing to share their knowledge with their Rwandese counterparts.

It was wonderful to see both groups blossom and grow in stature as each shooting day progressed.

We were indeed a privileged group to have had "the experience" of SHOOTING DOGS. At times it felt as though each and every cast and crew member had their own mission in Rwanda to help tell the story of '94.

The relationships between the Rwandese crew and those we met in Rwanda have forged friendships that will stay with us forever.'

-Drew Wood, Line Producer

2006-03-06T07:47:00.000-08:00

EMPIRE 4 STAR REVIEW

Kigali, Rwanda, 1994. When Hutu militias begin slaughtering thousands of Tutsis, many flee to the safety of a school – also a post for UN soldiers – run by Father Christopher (Hurt) and Joe Connor (Dancy), a young Englishman straight out of college who’s looking to “make a difference”.
Among so many painful moments in Michael Caton-Jones' latest, there is one that best sums up the atrocious state of affairs: a Tutsi man – the head of a family living in the school that has become a refugee camp – politely asks with all the dignity he can muster for the UN soldiers who are about to leave to shoot them; it will be quicker and less painful than being hacked to death by machetes. It's offered up without grandstanding, and it's typically, utterly heartbreaking.
Shooting Dogs shares common ground – at some points crossing over – with last year’s Hotel Rwanda (comparisons will be as inevitable as they are obvious). But here, by telling the story primarily from the point of Father Christopher and Joe, the burden of White Western guilt is pressed upon us more specifically.
As the world-weary priest fast running out of faith, Hurt plays the type of role he might as well get trademarked, never missing a beat. He's ably supported by Dancy, Horwitz and newcomer Ashitey, but everyone in front of the camera owes a debt to David Wolstencroft's understated script which has the feel of on-form Loach, and only ever falters in its final scenes.

VERDICT Sam Toy, Empire

Told with honesty and integrity, there's no way the story for Shooting Dogs could ever have made a bad film, but a script that refuses sentimentality and fine performances elevate it just shy of greatness.

****

2006-03-05T03:39:00.001-08:00

John Reid MP attends Thursday night's screening of Shooting Dogs:

Thursday night's packed out screening of Shooting Dogs at The Rex was hosted by Matthew Freud and introduced by Michael Caton Jones. Correspondents from Channel 4 News, The Independent, BBC World Service and Reuters were all in attendence for the screening that was specifically aimed at introducing the film to the news agenda. The Secretary of State for Defence, John Reid MP was present and was impressed by the film. Michael Caton Jones used his introduction to urge those present to support Shooting Dogs. He said: "The film is about the big questions - What can one person do? If you like the film, please tell everyone you know. We are very proud of this film."

2006-03-03T08:10:00.000-08:00

Tuesday's Screening of Shooting Dogs

Tuesday night saw yet another hugely successful packed screening of SHOOTING DOGS at The Everyman Cinema in Hampstead. Arranged in association with leading Human Rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson QC and The Doughty Street Chambers, the film was screened to a full-house of lawyers, politicians and NGO representatives. These high profile events are proving hugely successful as platforms through which we can raise awareness of SHOOTING DOGS. The Guardian even decided to report on the event. All that attended the screening remained in their seats as the film concluded, keen to discuss the issues raised by the film in the pursuing Q&A session. A number of interesting and important issues were raised in the discussion lead by a host of leading panelists: Geoffrey Robertson QC, Claver Gatete (The Rwandan Ambassador to the UK), Oona King (founder of The All-Party Parliamentary Group on The Great Lakes Regions and Genocide Prevention), Steven Crawshaw (UK Director of Human Rights Watch), and Guy Vassall-Adams (Barrister at The Doughty Street Chambers and author of the OXFAM report on the genocide).

Shooting Dogs won high acclaim from each of the panel members, described as the best and most important film based on the Rwandan genocide to date. These sentiments were echoed by President Kagame who watched the film in Kigali last week.

It was of the shared opinion that the film was capable of going a long way in raising awareness. Oona King pointed out and emphatically supported the central message that the film articulates as the most important factor in preventing future genocide - the importance and responsibility of the individual. To point blame after such a humanitarian crisis is of no consequence. It is the responsibility of the individual to be aware and to utilise all the power and influence within one's own personal sphere, however great or small that may be, no matter how far away from the crisis one may be, TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE.

The failure of the media at the time was brought up on a number of occasions, as was the fact that even today people are still unaware of the atrocities that took place there in 1994. Steven Crawshaw of Human Rights Watch talked of how the media constantly seems to avoid the current important issues until it is too late. The example he drew upon was of particular interest. He described how during the week of the 10 year commemoration of the Rwandan genocide in 2004, the papers were full of retrospectives on the Rwandan genocide. At this very point when the media was looking back at the world's failure in 1994, there was at that very moment, genocide taking place in Darfur. Darfur of course had no coverage.

Other topics covered were the successes and failings of gacaca as a way of bringing stability to Rwandan society, the culpability of Europe and King Leopald in initially installing the division between Hutu and Tutsi, and of course, the involvement (or lack of) of the British government in 1994. If you would like to comment of any the issues raised at the event, please post your comments below. An audio file of the Q & A session should be available on the blog soon.

To read a PDF version of the event handout, click here.

2006-02-28T13:10:00.000-08:00

Screening at The Everyman, Hampstead.

There will be a special screening of Shooting Dogs tonight at The Everyman in Hampstead (North London).

The evening will be hosted by Geoffrey Robertson QC, who is founder and head of Doughty Street Chambers. He was recently appointed to the Appeals Chamber of the UN Special Court for Sierra Leone.

Also in attendance will be Steve Crawshaw; the UK Director of Human Rights Watch, Oona King; who founded the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on the Great Lakes Region and Genocide Prevention, Elizabeth Wilmshurst and a representative from the Rwandan Embassy in London.

I’ll be there to get a full report on the evening and place a posting soon on how it all went.

2006-02-28T07:21:00.000-08:00

Packed SHOOTING DOGS presentation and debate at The Royal Geographical Society, London

Last night SHOOTING DOGS producers David Belton and Pippa Cross discussed their experience of making the film with a huge audience at The Royal Geographical Society in London. David Belton reports:

"Last night Pippa Cross and I spoke to the Royal Geographical Society in London. In front of a packed audience of 650 members we showed clips from the film and spoke of the experience of going to Rwanda and recreating one episode that took place during the genocide. As you can imagine with such an audience, we knew we were talking to extremely well-informed people and the question and answer session afterwards reflected that. There were questions from the audience on how the Rwandan cast and crew responded to the making of the film, on whether there was any way that the West could have stopped the genocide, on Rwanda today and the process of Gacaca as a means of providing truth and reconciliation, and whether Paul Kagame is a force for good in Rwanda. It was a highly stimulating evening and it was good to see that the entire audience stayed for the question and answer session. Also I was pleased to see senior members of DfID at the talk as well as Linda Melvern, the author of the excellent and highly informative book on the genocide, A People Betrayed. Tonight Geoffrey Robertson QC hosts his screening of the film for top lawyers, judges and politicians and that again promises to stimulate debate on what happened in 1994 and help spread the word about Shooting Dogs."

2006-02-27T09:10:00.000-08:00

"Absolutely and unequivocally, you must see Shooting Dogs."

-a new review of Shooting Dogs from PlayLouder.com

A film about Rwandan genocide was never going to be laugh a minute, but director Michael Caton-Jones takes a difficult subject and brings us a film of some magnitude, packed with moving and sensitive performances. Hugh Dancy plays a young teacher in a Rwandan school who encounters first hand the resentment and aggression towards the Tutsi by the Hutu tribe, but at first he doesn't take it too seriously - not until mayhem breaks out and people start getting senselessly butchered. At first the people within the school are protected by UN Forces, but as the trouble escalates it seems some pen-pusher from far away is about to move the goalposts and allow the unthinkable to happen. Dancy's performance is gripping, and while with the benefit of hindsight his naivety seems ridiculous, you sympathise and agonise and feel some of the fear his character is undoubtedly subjected to. It's great too to see John Hurt in a substantial lead role for a change, playing a man of the cloth whose faith is rocked by the brutality and carnage. Hurt only seems to get wheeled out for camp cameos these days, so it's a delight to see him roll back the years and put in a performance worthy of his earlier career in landmark movies such as 10 Rillington Place and The Elephant Man.

The movie is not a document of the entire Rwandan genocide but concentrates on the first few days of the bloodiest one-sided annihilation in modern history. Shooting Dogs will make you angry, it'll make you frustrated, it'll make you feel ashamed and it'll make you cry a lot. Rarely have I seen a film this devastating. While it's never pleasant viewing it's a film I implore you to make sure you see. Absolutely and unequivocally, you must see Shooting Dogs.

-Jeremy Allen

2006-02-24T14:53:00.000-08:00

Dublin Film Festival

A special screening of 'Shooting Dogs' will be shown tonight at the Dublin Film Festival with Michael Caton-Jones and John Hurt in attendance.

If you get to see the film tonight, let us know what you think...

2006-02-23T12:08:00.000-08:00

“I challenge you not to be affected by its power.”

-Five-star review of Shooting Dogs by MusicOMH.com

Following Hotel Rwanda's endeavours to tell the world about the Rwanda genocide of 1994, Shooting Dogs revisits events leading up to the shocking violence. Director Michael Caton-Jones (Scandal, Memphis Belle, Rob Roy) tells the (partially) true story of a catholic priest and his school in the Rwandan capital Kigali which becomes a safe haven for thousands of refugees when the Rwandan president is killed and Hutu militia begin to turn on the minority Tutsi civilians.

John Hurt plays the priest. His school is being used by a detachment of Belgian UN troops as a base from which to monitor the fragile peace in Rwanda. Hugh Dancy (Black Hawk Down) is Joe, fresh faced young teacher, on a gap year of sorts who stays at the school. When the Rwandan president's plane is brought down and a coup becomes apparent, the Hutu militia's attacks on the Tutsi population leads to the school becoming a safe haven for the persecuted.

Joe is an upper middle class lad who's completely unprepared for the responsibilities and subsequent decisions he has to face as the situation erupts around him. Having naively promised his favourite student Marie that everything will be okay for her and her family, he is then faced with the choice of escaping with the exiting UN troops or staying to almost certain death with the Tutsi refugees, now completely unprotected from the preying Hutus surrounding the school.

There's a lot of controlled anger in the film, not simply aimed at the machete-wielding Hutu militia but at the impotent UN, whose troops not only fail to act in the midst of the genocide, but are ordered to pull out when it starts looking dangerous. The film shows how UN Capitaine Delon (played by Dominique Horwitz) is under mandate not to maintain peace, or even protect civilians, but to simply 'monitor' the situation as it degenerates.

Similarly, Rachel, a BBC war journalist reporting on the situation (played by Nicola Walker, who manages to look like a young, cockney Kate Adie), shockingly vocalises the West's attitude to the genocide when she compares her own reaction to what she felt when reporting the Bosnian genocide: "Any time I saw a dead Bosnian woman I thought that could be my mum - but here they're just dead Africans".

Dancy puts on an impressive performance as Joe while Hurt, as usual, provides exactly the right combination of gravitas and humanity in his role as a pretty saintly figure. Even more touching is the fact that many people working on the film are survivors who lost friends and family during the massacre.

Shooting Dogs is an astonishing and important film which everyone should go see; not only to learn about what happened in Rwanda, but to also appreciate a well-crafted, well-acted movie that examines the difficult decisions people are forced to make in extreme situations. I challenge you not to be affected by its power. *****

- Sara McDonnell

2006-02-22T11:49:00.000-08:00

John Hurt and Hugh Dancy

'Shooting Dogs'

photo taken for the Telegraph Magazine -BAFTA Issue

2006-02-19T04:26:00.000-08:00

Government Screening of Shooting Dogs

"This is not a film you ought to see...it is a film you MUST see."

-John Hurt talking at the government screening of SHOOTING DOGS at Portcullis House.

Last Wednesday evening, producer David Belton and John Hurt travelled to The Houses of Parliament to meet with Andrew Mitchell MP, The Shadow Secretary of State for International Development, and Stephen Carter, The Coordinator of Genocide Prevention for the All Party Parliamentary Group. Having recently returned from a visit to Rwanda, Andrew Mitchell MP, a great advocate of SHOOTING DOGS, is keen to discuss ways that he may be able to support and help raise awareness of the film.

The meeting was followed by a packed screening of the film in The Boothroyd Room of Portcullis House where MPs, Peers and NGO representatives were in attendance. John Hurt introduced the film to the eager audience, talking of the film as one of the hardest, but most rewarding projects that he has worked on during his esteemed career. He suggested that viewing the film would bring about a similar experience- not easy, and not entertaining as such, but unforgettable, hugely rewarding and hugely necessary.

"This is not a film you ought to see...it is a film you MUST see."

2006-02-17T12:37:00.000-08:00

Michael Caton-Jones (director of Shooting Dogs)

Born in Scotland in 1958, Michael Caton-Jones attended the National Film School in London. His directorial debut was "Scandal" (1989), which dealt with the famed Profumo spy scandal for which he won critical acclaim.

He went on to direct the 1990 film "Memphis Belle" and then "Doc Hollywood" with Michael J Fox. Other directorial credits include "This Boy's Life", "Rob Roy", and "The Jackal".

"Shooting Dogs" is a passionate project for Michael and all those who have worked on the film.

Michael Caton-Jones on-set

Michael and David Belton (producer)

Michael on-set

2006-02-15T03:02:00.000-08:00

Diary Six

July 20th 2004

The “stars” have arrived. Namely, John Hurt, Hugh Dancy and Claire Ashitey. They couldn’t be more different, yet all are charming and completely enthusiastic. John seems to have Africa etched on his face. He knows Africa well and his father was a priest – who better to play Father Christopher. He’s a secret smoker (“I only smoke in Africa”) and is welcoming and funny and a total professional. Hugh is young, highly intelligent and very sorted. I can see he’s thought long and hard about the film and his part of “Joe”. It’s a big role for him and he has that mixture of nervousness and confidence which will take him far. I like him and so does Michael. They get on well which will be crucial in the next few weeks. And Claire – still only seventeen and this is her first film. She’s funny and cheeky and also very smart. On her first night – away from her parents and her friends - she shows her calibre: coming down for supper, her homework for next term’s exams under her arm, she sits down and gets her books out (German and History), orders herself a vodka and tonic and starts work. Hilarious.

Claire-Hope Ashitey (Marie)

2006-02-14T09:11:00.000-08:00

Juvens Ntampuhwena Unit Manager for 'Shooting Dogs'

'After Sometimes in April, Shooting Dogs was another experience for the Rwandan movie industry. Rwandan crew members were fully involved in the entire process. Many of us held positions of responsibility such as Casting Director, Unit manager etc. We had opportunity to sit in the management meetings, not just as observers but as advisors and decision makers. The producers and our fellow crew members from the UK, Australia and Germany paid particular attention to our comments and valued our opinions.

The film shooting was a tough yet wonderful experience. There was a good work environment with a lot of cooperation and mutual respect. There was no distinction between local and expatriate team members. Every crew member was as important. We all helped each other; we did it as a real team. “Together Everyone Achieved More”. We did a tough and tremendous job. We worked very seriously, yet there were occasions for fun.

One morning I bet with David Belton the Producer about what time the sun would rise and I ended up taking his 1000 francs! Crispin Buxton the Location Manager managed to keep a smile on his face throughout; Drew Wood the Line Producer managed to smile at least once a day.

We celebrated crew member’s birthdays, we had good times together and everything happened much faster than expected.

I haven’t yet had chance to watch the film… looking back to the scenes, I strongly believe the comments of those who had chance to watch it before me are genuine. '

-Juvens NTAMPUHWE, Unit Manager

2006-02-13T08:39:00.000-08:00

Photo Album Update!!

The behind the scenes photos I've been posting on the site are proving quite a hit. As a special treat, today I've updated the photo album. It contains more 'making of' photos as well as stills from the film itself.

Enjoy!!

Michael Caton-Jones and some of the Rwandan crew.

2006-02-10T06:57:00.000-08:00

John Hurt - in Photos

John gave up training as a painter at St. Martin's School for Art (London) and arrived on the stage in 1962 in "Infanticide in the House of Fred Ginger" playing the role of Knocker White. He moved to the The Royal Shakespeare Company and has since performed with them many times.

In 1962 John also made his film debut in "The wild and the Willing". He received recognition for his role in Fred Zinnemann's "A Man for all seasons" (1966). Since then, the versatile actor had performed in many films including 'Alien', '1984', 'Captain Corelli's Mandolin', 'Harry Potter' and many many more.
He also provided the voice of Aragorn in the animated 1978 version of "The Lord Of The Rings".

He was awarded a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2004 Queen's Birthday Honours List for services to Drama.

And just last month he received an honorary Doctorate in Letters from the University of Hull, Yorkshire.

In 'Shooting Dogs' John Hurt plays 'Christopher', a Catholic Priest struggling to help those in need in Rwanda.

John Hurt

Hugh Dancy and John Hurt

John Hurt (all photos from 'Shooting Dogs')

2006-02-09T07:15:00.000-08:00

Shooting Dogs Reviews

We now have a new page on the blog so you can see reviews of the film as each preview is shown.

You can also post your own reviews of the film on this page for others to read.

Have a look and see some of the fantastic feedback Shooting Dogs is already receiving.

Shooting Dogs

2006-02-08T03:18:00.000-08:00

Diary Five:

June 15th.

A month to go before we film and I am meeting, once again, a senior member of the Rwandan government. Key to the success of the filming was the support of the Rwandan government. I have been fortunate to work with a brilliant journalist based in Kigali, Helen Vesperini, who introduced me to key ministers. One was particularly highly placed. Every once in a while I would meet to update him. He speaks quietly, his elongated body clad in an immaculate suit seems to almost drool over the chair. We meet regularly and publicly. It’s an enjoyable experience. He is fascinating and excellent company. And cool with it. Even the ring tone on his phone is cool – it chirrups like a distant cicada. If he takes the call his voice will disappear into a deathly whisper – probably Mtwame, the Big Chief – President Kagame. Rwanda’s power extends far beyond its relative size – such is the respect with which it is held throughout Africa for its recovery since 1994 – and this man is at the heart of many decisions.

We have become friends. God knows what he finds interesting in me. We talk about Rwanda, our wives and children, what we would do if we were not doing our jobs – normal stuff. He is our chief supporter for the film. There are some here that would rather we were not here revisiting an episode that they want to forget because they believe Rwanda must move on. My friend sees the film differently – a means of reminding the West of what happened and ensuring that the story remains in the present – a potential way to reconcile Hutu and Tutsi.

It’s a view that excites plenty of expatriate opinion on the weekends at the Umubano Hotel. Amid the “thwock” of tennis balls and the screaming chatter of small children at the pool, westerners recline on sun loungers and discuss the best way forward for Rwanda. Some think that revisiting the past and doing away with ethnic labels – Tutsi and Hutu – won’t lead to a natural, organic harmony between the two ethnic groups. But I’m not so sure. Don’t forget that nearly 30% of Rwanda had always intermarried and I trust Kagame and his ideas much more than some western bureaucrat out on a two year posting equipped with a crumpled mission statement and a badly written university thesis entitled Aid and Poverty – the Third World Paradigm.

Broiled by the long afternoon heat, Rwanda settles into luminous dusk. The hills stretch out, overlapping each other, turn milky and then, like a door shutting on a closet, Rwanda snaps into darkness.

-David Belton (Producer)

2006-02-06T04:03:00.000-08:00

Hugh Dancy - in photos

Today I've put together a little montage of actor Hugh Dancy during filming. Hugh plays the young idealistic teacher Joe Connor in Shooting Dogs.

Hugh was born in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England in 1975. His career includes many credits in film, theatre and television. Hugh has worked on numerous projects with many directors including Sam Mendes and Ridley Scott.

You can see more photos of Hugh and behind the scenes photos of Shooting Dogs in our photo album on the right side of this page.

Hugh on set (phoning his mum)

Hugh looking rather pleased with himself with fellow actor David Gyasi who plays 'Francios'

Director Michael Caton-Jones talking about the next scene to Hugh and David who is being fitted with a mic by sound man Chris.

2006-02-03T04:51:00.000-08:00

Our intrepid Director Michael Caton-Jones

taking a well earned forty-winks.

2006-02-02T04:30:00.000-08:00

Diary Four:

May 31st 2004

Today is a big day. A call has come through – we are “green lit” and can proceed with the film. After two years of constant worry and fret, we really are going to make this film. And only just in time. Whilst we were busy setting up the shoot, back in the UK my fellow producer, Pippa Cross had been hard at it making sure the finance was in place so we could make the film. It was a tough process for her – trying to finalise a complicated co-production deal (film finance is more complicated than the worst trigonometry and not nearly as much fun – you get the picture) in time for the filming. Because we were on a knife edge we had to get the film made by early September before the rains came which could play havoc with filming. Every day of delay in the UK put back the filming and we were getting terribly close to a point that we would just run out of time for the shoot. We needed eight weeks to film – which meant we had to start filming by the end of July. Any later and we were stuffed. The deal was now in place – Pippa had done it in incredibly short time – a remarkable achievement (it took her six weeks to structure and do the co-production deal. People in the industry had said you need a minimum of twelve weeks. Pippa, not for the first time, proved that there was a lot of bull**** in the film business).

Understandably, the worry for our backers was how we could make a film in Rwanda – which had no film infrastructure and little knowledge about the process of putting together a major feature film. They needn’t have worried. From the moment Michael and I landed again in May we had come across a number of highly talented and motivated Rwandans who were desperate to help. To name just two: Hope Azeda, our tall, languidly beautiful casting director, who had run theatre workshops across Africa and who was confident she could find the people to act in our film, as well as the thousands who would play extras. Juvens Ntampuhwe, law student and outstanding unit manager who managed alongside our line producer, Drew Wood, the Rwandan production. So many impressive Rwandans who joined us on this strange journey – too many to mention. And then there were the British crew – motivated, determined and inspired by what they were seeing around them. Crispin Buxton, for example, our locations manager, marshalled his locations team like an army commander, sending them out into the countryside and around Kigali to find locations for Michael to film in.

-David Belton (producer)

2006-02-01T03:58:00.000-08:00

Hurrah! Photos!

Today I've added a photo gallery to the site. The album contains stills from 'Shooting Dogs' and also behind the scenes cast and crew snaps from our time in Rwanda.

I'll be adding more as we go on so keep coming back.

Let me know what you think of the album. I'd also like to know your views on the site. Do you like it? What would you like to see on the blog? What could we do to make it better?

Keep your thoughts and views coming in and keep coming back as there's lots more to come!

2006-01-31T05:04:00.000-08:00

Script Supervisor's Thoughts

Today's post come from Pat Rambaut, Script Supervisor of Shooting Dogs.

Six months after my partner of 25 years had major heart surgery I had a call to ask me if I wanted to go to Rwanda to work on 'Shooting Dogs.' The operation and looking after him for six months was the most scarey thing I've had to do.

A brief visit to London to meet Michael Caton Jones, the director followed. Michael describes to me the essence of what David Belton writes in his diary of March 20th 2004, when he and McJ visited the ETO school.

I decided to go.

After what I had been through in my personal life, I felt strong enough to cope with a film whose story was about so fragile a subject as genocide. After my meeting with the Michael I knew it would be a story well told.

My job as a script supervisor on a film is all about the script - the story. I need to know the story in detail by the time we shoot. I even time the script which entails visualising the action and speaking out loud the dialogue of all the characters. A lot of this I do alone. (the memory of 'Blind Flight' and Beirut and needing to escape out into the streets to remind myself I was not back in the Beirut of l985 comes to mind).

I arrived in Rwanda with less than a week to shoot. The week was full to capacity and little time to think. Documentary footage set up in a corner of the busy production base, for cast and crew to watch for reference, I avoided. Knowing I had to somehow distance myself from the reality., not sure how I would cope. The difference to other films I had worked on was of course this story wasn't fiction.

A couple of weeks in to shooting we had two days off. By now I was feeling the need to learn more about what had happened. And maybe why. This was when I visited the Kigali Memorial. I can still visualise that whole exterior covered with polished granite under which I was told 250,000 children, women and men lay dead. A glimpse into the two open tombs showed rows upon rows of carefully draped coffins, some tiny. They were still finding bodies, hence the open tombs.

My lasting memory too being the room of Portraits of tiny children and babies all with equally horrendous stories of how they had been hacked to death. Such a huge waste of tiny human lives.

By the end of our visit our Guide thanked us for coming and asked us to tell the world what had happened. They just don't believe us. I began to know why I had chosen to come here.
Each one of the European crew who went out to Rwanda were very special people. It was only by being with such people did we cope.

I suppose luckily our days were very full, (getting up at 4.30am in the dark!) We had so much to shoot in so short a time each day had little free time to think beyond than that moment. But yet there were always reminders. Some of the scenes with many extras were especially hard to shoot.

One of these was one of the final scenes in the film. It was a very silent crew who filmed the aftermath of the massacre. Of course we knew the people on the ground, covering as far as the eye could see of the ETO school, were not dead, but it brought us so close to the reality of what happened in Rwanda in 1994.

Shortly after this scene, maybe even later that day we shot the scene that precedes this - the Interahamwe surging forward to the school. Afterwards I was walking up the drive towards the ETO. The end of a long day. All the extras playing the Interahamwe noisily rushing past. My inner uneasiness at their presence feeling real (I was not alone in this feeling!). One of them tapped me on the shoulder. Startled I turned round. A young man stood there, a big smile on his friendly face, 'Can I help you with your bag?' We walked back towards the school together. His English not good, my Rwandan worse. We were back in 2004!! And we were telling a story.

As has been said before on this website, a story that needs telling, if only to help one tiny bit to stop all the fruitless killing that is happening in so many places in our world today in 2006!!

-Pat Rambaut, Script Supervisor.

2006-01-30T04:13:00.000-08:00

Ken Barham on Rwanda Now

Today's post was contributed by Ken Barham, Trustee of Rwanda Aid and Former Anglican Bishop of Cyangugu, Rwanda (1993 to 2001).

The film SHOOTING DOGS shows graphically some of the horrors of the genocide of 1994 in Rwanda. It shows the utterly hopeless mandate under which the United Nations contingent were operating in Rwanda at that time. There was a brilliant question asked by Father Christopher to the Captain in charge, who had made it clear that his mandate only allowed him to use his powerful weapons if he was fired at first. When the killing was so clearly visible outside the gates and the dogs were eating the bodies, the Captain said he was going to shoot the dogs. Father Christopher asked, bursting with anger, "Have the dogs shot at you?" "Have they shot at you?" You can use your guns to shoot dogs but not to protect these terrified people.

The film shows the terror for the Tutsi people as they saw the hordes with machetes and clubs, and the terrible choices some Europeans had to face. I am very conscious of that as I left in February 1994 and was spared that decision. Would I have left or would I have hidden? I would certainly have had a house full of Tutsis, as did the Catholic Bishop (a Hutu).

It is important that people are made aware of the horrors of the genocide, but it is also important to bring to the forefront, the sitauation in Rwanda NOW. Rwanda is no longer a dangerous place with gangs like the Interahamwe roaming about the country. I feel strongly about this because I have worked in one of the most vulnerable parts of Rwanda from September 1994 until 2001 and then visited once or twice a year since then. I have watched the country move from total chaos in 1994, when all the banks were cleaned out and all government and other property taken, including my roof, doors, windows, cupboards etc; through sorting out administration, setting up commissions for Unity and Reconciliation and a Constitution, to elections at a lower level and then for Parliament and President. I was there last year in October and again in November and will be there again in May this year. Rwanda is incredible! The city of Kigali is being cleaned up remarkably. I have just come back from Honduras and seen rubbish thrown out all along the streets. President Kagame led his Ministers through Kigali picking up all the plastic bags and banning their future use. Trees and flowers are being planted everywhere and new buildings going up like mushrooms. In addition, Tutsi and Hutu are living and working side by side everywhere and nobody is going out to kill anyone (even if that feeling is still there for genocide survivors).

That horrific massacre happened in 1994. Those who have visited Rwanda recently will know the enormous effort that has been made, not only to restore the devastated country, but to move steadily from chaos to creative development, from devastation to democracy. Such strides have been made that inward investment has brought a brand new Five star Intercontinental Hotel to Kigali to match the Hotel Mille Collines and the Umubano Hotel, all of which are hosting international conferences. Rwanda NOW is a very safe and beautiful country. Scores of visitors go to see the gorillas in the mists of the mountains. Some of them travel to the National Park in the east to see a huge range of African animals. Some travel south to the university town of Butare and visit the National Museum. Wise people also continue on the tarmac road through the Natural Forest of Nyungwe with its thirteen types of primate, its rare birds and orchids. After the forest the country opens out to miles of beautiful green tea plantations before arriving at the small town of Kamembe in Cyangugu. Very wise people stay at the Peace Guest House on the lakeside of the beautiful Lake Kivu! Here they can get a Rondavel with two bedrooms, sitting room looking at the lake, and bathroom with flush loo and hot shower. It is safe to travel anywhere in Rwanda today and it is a beautiful country, the Land of a Thousand Hills. Every visitor will get a very warm welcome. The genocide certainly happened and, of course, there are still deep scars, but the courts are dealing with justice. The three ethnic groups, the Hutu, the Tutsi and the Twa, live side by side in every village and town and work together in every business, and study together in every school and college. If ever there was a perfect example of Reconciliation, Rwanda is it! The people, the government Commission for Reconciliation and Unity, and the Churches, are all working at it.

If you want to prove it, go and see!

-Ken Barham

For more information about visiting Rwanda, click on the Rwandan Tourist Board website.

2006-01-26T14:40:00.000-08:00

A cinematographer's view

Today's post was sent to me by the cinematographer of Shooting Dogs, Ivan Strasburg:

I was born and grew up in Africa ( if you count Durban as Africa - its a bit more like Surbiton -on -Sea ) and over the years spent a lot of time on the continent working on documentaries, covering the area comprehensively. So, on my first trip to Rwanda I was pretty sure of what to expect particularly in light of recent events. My first surprise was the airport, high tech and well designed, and my second the hotel, well appointed beyond my wildest dreams.

The first impressions in a post holocaust society are purely subjective- how old was that one at the time? is he a Hutu ? is she a Tutsi ? Is the one group fraternizing with the other and are people walking in the street and recognizing mass murderers? Its difficult to sort through all of this; and then you stop thinking about it. I was in Cambodia only a few months after the Khmer Rouge were slung out ( by the Vietnamese lest we forget ) and I found the atmosphere not dissimilar to that of Rwanda, though in the case of Cambodia the murderous regime only recently dispatched. It is puzzling trying to make sense of the apparent normality whilst ignorant of the undercurrents, the situation I suppose for all outsiders.

It was also shocking to realise that our production constituted such a disproportionately large part of the economy. At times it occurred to me that perhaps we were the economy. All manner of citizenery congregated at the gates of our hotel desperately importuning for work anyone they thought part of the crew. This was thoroughly depressing particularly as time went on and casual employment on the production less and less. We, in our department anyway, took on people who wouldn't take "no" for an answer. Of course employing a Rwandan meant that you also became responsible for every aspect of their lives; well those aspects which charitable organisations and social workers would generally figure in. What could one do when the discrepancy between their income and yours was so vast.

There was never going to be anything like the sort of efficiency which one gets and expects in Hollywood or the UK but I was surprised at how well everything worked. The ADs particularly were magnificent at clearing people off the streets when necessary, and organising and dressing hundreds of extras on a daily basis, seemed from my perspective, to proceed smoothly. In any case when cock ups did occur, and they did with far less frequency than one would expect, how could you yell at someone ( if that was your desired technique ) knowing the horrors that that person had been subjected to only recently, and more than likely still dealing with the consequences. I think that a lot of us developed a new set of perspectives.

I think our proudest achievement was having the cab section of our (hero) vehicle constructed on the back of a similar truck, (someone has a photo of this) which enabled us to shoot conversations in the cab while driving along. This made possible angles which would have been impossible without grips and a pile of equipment, none of which we had. Mickey Reeves,our gaffer, also designed and had constructed a frame with which we were able to suspend a light from a crane; this crane we spotted completely by chance. Although this wasn't as high we would have liked, it was a lot higher than anything else available in Rwanda.

All in all everyone benefited from working on the film and for those who had never been to Africa previously, this was as good a place to start as any. It was a story that needed to be told and hopefully shames those politicians who were involved in the tragedy. Somehow, I doubt it.

Regards Ivan

2006-01-26T06:55:00.000-08:00

The Tuesday Night Preview

On Tuesday night, the first major preview screening of Shooting Dogs took place in Central London. The 200-strong audience was largely made up of journalists, representatives from NGOs and charity organisations. Director Michael Caton-Jones was in attendance to provide an introduction to the film.

The response to the film so far has been fantastic, following on from the great acclaim that it won at the London Film Festival last year. The film has been heralded by a number of organisations who have recognised the importance of the film as a valuable tool in raising awareness of contemporary genocide. Please read below some of the comments we have had so far:

1)"I thought the film was absolutely superb. Certainly the most provoking and disturbing film I have seen in a very very long time."

Thomas Russon, People & Planet

2)"The film was brilliant in all aspects, narrative, casting, and most importantly impact. It was a beautifully crafted film."

Jo Ash, GAP (Gap Activity Projects)

3)"I went to see this film yesterday and was incredibly moved by it. It is such a powerful and well-made film and explores very well the choices that people have to make faced with unspeakable evil. I read the notes later and found the genesis of the film most interesting; filming in the location where this massacre took place gave a poignant immediacy to the film. Working in Rwanda as an aid worker and having lived there in 1977, I have always had a special place for that country in my heart and to see the genocide portrayed so graphically,but without gratuitous violence was really moving. It brought back memories of happier times but also trying to understand why this horror took place; I’ve often wondered what happened to some of the people I knew. Where was God in all this is a question I’ve often asked and I don’t have an easy answer, though I’m sure there were some brave people who did what they could to protect others. But certainly it was a time of unspeakable evil.

I thought the acting was very good and it must have been hard for some of the people, actors and technicians, to relive those terrible events. All in all, it was a courageous film to make and one that will stay with me for a long time."

Anne Bonger, Aid Worker in Central Africa

4)"An extraordinarily Powerful Film...a must see"

Baz Bamigboye, The Daily Mail

5)"The film left me feeling shattered. It was so real felt I was right back there in the middle of the madness. The film is the most powerful portrayal of that terrible time. What happened in Rwanda wasn't just about Rwanda - it was about all of us. The film brilliantly captures that central truth. A Brilliant and Powerful film"

Feragl Keane, BBC (reporter in Rwanda in 1994)

6)"I have rarely seen such a powerful and important movie and really believe that it is vital that as many people go and see it when it is released in the UK."

Joost van der Zwan Communications Officer London School of Economics (LSE) Crisis States Research Centre

Hugh Dancy and Claire-Hope Ashitey

2006-01-25T12:11:00.000-08:00

Diary 3.

March 25th 2004

An extraordinary meeting in Kigali. At a restaurant I meet the celebrated documentary maker Anne Aghion – who is over here to make a film about Gacaca – a new judicial process where Rwandans indicted for genocide can confess their crimes and, judged by their peers from the local community, would then be released from jail to begin their lives again. With Anne is Jean-Pierre, her researcher and driver. Like so many, Jean-Pierre had a remarkable story of survival. He had hidden himself in a cess pit for fourteen weeks and evaded the killers. Next to him is his wife. J-P tells me that she had spent eight weeks in a camp at a place called Kabgayi. The camp was supposed to be protected by the local Catholic Bishop; in truth, hundreds from the camp had been pulled out and killed by the genocidaires and the government army. It dawned on me that this was the camp that Tom and I had discovered and reported exclusively on. And here I was looking at a woman who had been in the camp with her children, fighting for her life, whilst we had gone around, in the early dawn with our camera recoding their plight and hoping not to alert the army to our presence. It was a heart-warming and humbling moment to see her there with J-P, still alive having survived that terrible place.

-David Belton (Producer)

2006-01-24T02:55:00.000-08:00

General Roméo Dallaire Talks

Tonight, General Roméo Dallaire will be talking at an event arranged by 'Facing History & Ourselves' at The Royal Society of Medicine, London. Lieutenant-General Roméo Dallaire, now retired, was Commander of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Rwanda during the 1994 genocide. He now holds a post on the Canadian Senate. Since the publication of his book, 'Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of Humanity in Rwanda', General Dallaire has become a passionate spokesperson about the humanism necessary today in leadership and conflict resolution.

'Facing History & Ourselves' is doing extensive work in Rwanda currently helping them develop a new history curriculum and training hundreds of teachers to use it. You may know that 75% of the teachers in Rwanda were either murdered or imprisoned during the genocide so the rebuilding of the teacher network is essential.

General Dallaire and the work of Facing History challenge us to explore profound moral questions. What are the challenges of being given responsibility without authority? What are the consequences of a military person following his conscience instead of his orders? Are some lives worth more than others? How can we expand our "universe of obligation" to include people we don't know or even recognize? Why should we care about events that go on half way around the world?

A full report of the event will be posted later in the week.

2006-01-23T04:29:00.000-08:00

Diary 2

March 20th 2004

I am in Rwanda with Michael Caton-Jones, our director. We are here to see if we can shoot the film in Kigali. The plan is to do better than that – to make the film at the Ecole Technique Officielle – the school where the massacre took place. We start to meet Rwandans who had survived the massacre. First – Karasira Venuste – introduced to me by my researcher, Geoffrey Mutagoma. It was a terrible story of Rwandans coming to the school in the early hours of 7th April because, with UN troops stationed at the school, they believed they were safe, protected. But then, five days later, the UN left and the Rwandans were abandoned. Within hours of the UN leaving most of the 2,500 people who had sought refuge at the school had been killed.

Karasira tells the story with such honesty and dignity. He was one of the lucky ones – most of his family had survived. He had lost an arm when a grenade exploded near him and had been miraculously rescued by soldiers from the predominantly Tutsi rebel army, the RPF. Shining through the story was a sense of terrible betrayal he felt. How could the West, knowing what they knew was happening, leave Rwanda to its fate? Michael and I sat there, transfixed.

Afterwards as we walked round the school, Michael is murmuring to himself – his big frame getting all agitated. He can see it now – not just a script but a place and the filmmaker’s instincts are starting to manifest themselves in what he says. The school is a natural film set – not much has changed since 1994. Old engineering workshops still carried the scars – bullet holes in the walls, smashed furniture. Michael is an extraordinary guy – a miner’s son from West Lothian who left school at 15 and became a top Hollywood director. I can see that he has reached a moment of conclusion: we have to make the film and we have to make it here – in Rwanda, at this school. And we have to work with people like Karasira – to get their story out to a wider audience. “We just need to get these money men to understand that we’re making this film and there’s nothing they can do about it,” he says.

-David Belton (Producer)

2006-01-20T03:17:00.000-08:00

View from the Crew!

Its been a fantastic first week on Shooting Dogs with over 600 visitors from all around the world! Our sister site Rwandan Survivors has also been very popular and both sites will be expanding over the coming weeks. Thanks for your continued support and interest.

Next week we will be publishing more diary entries from our BAFTA-nominated producer David Belton; news about the film; production photos and much more!

We still want to hear your views, questions and suggestions, so leave us a comment and keep coming back.

We received an interesting e-mail yesterday from Tim Vallings. Tim was an extra in the film and here he recounts his experiences and views of his time on the production and his two years in Rwanda...

My name is Tim Vallings and I spent two years working in Rwanda. Towards the end of my time in Rwanda, the Cast and Crew arrived to make Shooting Dogs. I got involved and was made to wear a blue helmet for the duration of their stay there.

I wanted to be involved because I spoke to my colleagues in Rwanda, all of whom were Rwandan - I am English - to get their thoughts on a film of this nature being made in Rwanda. Without exception, they agreed that if the impact of a genocide had gone fairly unnoticed globally, then perhaps a film made to target that very audience, might be a useful tool in the historical education of what occurred in 1994.

I loved my time in Rwanda; a paradox of complication, sadness, ambiguity, frustration whilst having joy, satisfaction and hope. It is the country that has had by far the most impact on me wherever I have lived. I got a great deal out of the country both professionally and socially.

This seemed an appropriate way of giving something back. Of making an effort to be a part of something that matters, however cynical someone might be about the impact of a film. I lived there and took the decision that it was an appropriate project to be a part of.

I left Rwanda a year ago and have been back once since.

Kind regards

Tim

2006-01-19T06:53:00.000-08:00

The BAFTA's

Our congratulations go out today to Shooting Dogs producer David Belton who has gained a BAFTA nomination for his work on the film.

THE CARL FOREMAN AWARD for Special Achievement by a British Director, Writer or Producer in their First Feature Film.

DAVID BELTON (Producer) - Shooting Dogs
PETER FUDAKOWSKI (Producer) - Tsotsi
ANNIE GRIFFIN (Director/Writer) - Festival
RICHARD HAWKINS (Director) - Everything
JOE WRIGHT (Director) - Pride & Prejudice

Well done David!

2006-01-18T04:24:00.000-08:00

An incredible extendend family!

The cast and crew of Shooting Dogs.

2006-01-17T02:56:00.000-08:00

Diary One

What drove me to write the original story of Shooting Dogs with my fellow writer, Richard Alwyn? Perhaps the best place to start is six years ago. It’s October 2000 and I am in a bar in Washington DC, drinking with Tom, my old friend and BBC reporter from my first trip into Rwanda. We haven’t seen each other much recently and there is plenty of news to catch up on. But Tom seems distracted, bored with my inconsequential chat. Then he leans over and looks at me. And asks a question.

The question feels as though it comes out of the side of his mouth, as though he was trying to throw it away into the smoky din of the bar, half hoping I might not pick it up. But I do. I hear it loud and clearly. Suddenly the bar doesn’t feel so companionable anymore. The laughter around us sounds shrill, fake. Tom asks, “Do you think we did a good job out there?” I look at him. Ever since I came back from the genocide in Rwanda six years before I have enjoyed the praise of my colleagues at work, my tour of duty out there worn like a medal on my chest. Now this. The ice twirls around my glass. I’m struggling for an answer - looking at Tom, trying to read in his face a motive behind the question. I almost feel defensive - what the hell kind of question is that anyway. He takes a deep breath, “Because, you see, I don’t think we did. We left and we should have stayed.”

As we talked, it felt as though a door had been flung wide open, that so much of what happened back then, that I had unwittingly – and thus expertly – buried, was now piling back through that door demanding re-examination. I felt scared – at having to delve about in dark places, and there was anguish too at having to revisit those scenes again. But mainly there was relief. Relief to admit something that I hadn’t had the guts to admit before. Tom was right. We should have stayed.

What had happened back then was that after our first trip into Rwanda – where we had witnessed some difficult sights and had been badly threatened by the genocide government as well as getting an exclusive report out that showed viewers how the Tutsi were being systematically killed – we had managed to get out of the country and head back to Nairobi. We filed that last report and then had headed back to the UK. At the time it seemed the right thing to do. Six years later, we knew we should have stayed out there and carried on reporting. I did manage to get back to Rwanda – as the genocide was coming to an end but I realised, as I sat in the bar with Tom, how terribly guilty I felt. I needed to get back into this story and write something that attempted to do justice to the terrible grievance I felt about how we, in the West, had betrayed Rwanda.

-David Belton (Producer)

2006-01-16T04:03:00.000-08:00

Welcome to Shooting Dogs.

In the summer of 2004 we went to Kigali to make the film Shooting Dogs which tells the story of what happened at the Ecole Technique Officielle during the Rwandan genocide. It was an extraordinary experience for all of us. For five months we shared rich experiences and made lifelong friendships with our Rwandan friends who made the film with us. We all learnt much about Rwanda - its history and its struggle to move beyond its recent tragic past.

We hope that the film will spark debate and this site is an opportunity to join in and contribute. We really want to hear from as many voices as possible: to tell us what you think and to open up the discussion so that all of us can share our stories.

We have two blog sites running. This site will mainly focus on the making and the promotion of the film - here you will find all kinds of materials - including trailers and photo. The site will also contain diary entries and cast/crew testimonials from the remarkable team who came together to make Shooting Dogs . Our sister site (Rwandan Survivors) is designed to be a platform for those who wish their voice to be heard. It will include accounts of the genocide itself from its survivors and be a base for an interactive forum where the Rwandan Genocide and other crimes against humanity will be brought back into the public conscious.

-David Belton (Producer)

2006-01-04T05:53:00.000-08:00

This is the official website Blog for the feature film Shooting Dogs.

This site launches fully on the 16th January 2006 to raise the issues of the Rwandan genocide created in the film.

This blog will contain information on the making of the film.
Posts from the writer/producer David Belton
Comments from the Cast & Crew including director Michael Caton-Jones
Reports leading up to and including the Premiere.
Views from across the world including survivors of the genocide.