arts & entertainment
alrick Brown: the ‘Kinyarwanda’ Interview
W
ith an MFA from NYU’s Tisch
School of the Arts, Alrick Brown
is a filmmaker and teacher who
has found his calling writing, directing and
producing narrative films and documen-
taries focusing on social issues affecting the
world at large. For over two years, he
served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Cote
d’Ivoire.
Alrick’s interactions with the indigenous
people in the village where he lived, as well
as his overall experiences in West Africa,
have informed his creative expression, an
expression first fostered by his birth in
Kingston, Jamaica, and his upbringing in
Plainfield, New Jersey. A fluent French
speaker, he graduated from Rutgers
University with a BA in English and a
Masters degree in Education.
Since then, he has devoted his energy to
changing the world by giving a voice to the
voiceless by telling stories that otherwise
would not be told. Alrick’s collective work
has been screened in countless film festi-
vals, and received numerous awards,
including HBO’s Life Through Your Lens
Emerging Filmmaker Award for the critical-
ly-acclaimed documentary “Death of Two
Sons.”
In 2004 he was one of four NYU students
featured in the IFC Documentary series
“Film School,” produced by Academy
Award-nominee Nannette Burstein. And in
2007, he addressed the Motion Picture
Association of America on C-SPAN. Here,
he talks about his new film,
“Kinyarwanda,” which won the Audience
c elebritY
i ntervieW
by Kam
Williams
out of debt.
KW: When did you get your degree from
NYU?
AB: I officially graduated in 2008, when I
turned in my thesis.
KW: Well, I really enjoyed Kinyarwanda.
What inspired you to make a movie about
the genocide in Rwanda?
AB: Thank you very much. The film came
about because one of my Peace Corps bud-
dies ended up in Rwanda after I left West
Africa to go to NYU. He introduced me to
Ishmael Ntihabose, a genocide survivor and
aspiring filmmaker. Ishmael called me
because he got a grant to make a movie
about the Muslim influence on the peace
process in Rwanda, which I hadn’t heard
about before. So, he’s the picture’s execu-
tive producer. Then, when I arrived in
Rwanda, I heard so many amazing stories of
survival that I suggested to Ishmael the idea
of an ensemble drama with intertwining
tales, ala Crash, but with all the characters
eventually meeting at a mosque. He went
for it, and we shot it in 16 days.
KW: Had many of your cast members
“Kinyarwanda” won the Audience Award in the
World Cinema category at the Sundance Film
Festival earlier this year
Award in the World Cinema category at the
Sundance Film Festival earlier this year.
Kam Williams: Hey Alrick, thanks for the
time. Do you remember ever meeting me?
Alrick Brown: I do recognize your name.
Where’d we meet?
KW: It was in Princeton, New Jersey a
few years ago when you were working on
your film school classmate Sean Welski’s
student film.
AB: Oh my goodness! [Laughs] Cool,
man! I kept asking myself: Why is this
name so familiar?
KW: Well, it certainly looks like things
have taken off for you since Kinyarwanda
won the Audience Award at Sundance. How
does that feel?
AB: It’s all an illusion. I’m still broke,
man. I’ll answer that question, when I get
been touched by the genocide?
AB: Absolutely! Most of our crew and
cast members were affected by it in some
way. That added to the picture’s authentici-
ty.
KW: What’s Rwanda like now? Is there
still evidence of tensions between the Hutus
and Tutsis?
AB: The country has turned itself around
180 degrees. In fact, the terms “Hutus” and
“Tutsis” aren’t even used anymore. That’s
not to say everything is perfect. Outside of
Rwanda, there are still some people in exile
who don’t believe in the reconciliation
process who still hold animosities.
KW: I was surprised to learn from the
movie that there are also Pygmies in
Rwanda. What % of the population is com-
prised of the Twa people?
AB: Only around 3% or so. The Hutus
were around 85%, and the Tutsis around
12%. And the number of Muslims in the
country has increased from 8 to 12%
KW: Why so?
AB: Many people converted to Islam
after seeing the good things the Muslims
did during the conflict, because they felt
that the church had let them down.
KW: Did Rwanda hold truth and recon-
ciliation hearing like they did in South
Africa after Apartheid?
AB: Yes, they had truth and reconciliation
hearings, as well as re-education programs
for the perpetrators. And the country imple-
mented a new vision of itself via songs of
unity and forgiveness.
KW: I was surprised to see guns in the
movie. I thought all the killing had been
done with machetes.
AB: No, soldiers and a lot of the more
powerful guerilla leaders had guns,
although most of the common people
wielded machetes.
page 6 The Seattle Skanner november 30, 2011
alrick Brown is a filmmaker and teacher who has found his calling writing,
directing and producing narrative films and documentaries focusing on social
issues.
KW: How did you figure out a way to
humanize so many characters, especially in
a story unfolding in the midst of a mas-
sacre?
AB: I know a very personal Africa, that
isn’t National Geographic. So, as a film-
maker, I was determined to show the truth
that I know that we rarely get to see. I knew
that my foundation was going to be the inti-
macy of people’s lives.
KW: What made you want to join the
Peace Corps and venture to Africa in the
first place?
AB: Believe it or not, I saw an episode of
The X-Files in which they found a UFO that
had landed in the Ivory Coast. I saw that as
a sign. And I also wanted an opportunity to
travel and see the world.
KW: Is there any question no one ever
asks you, that you wish someone would?
AB: Yeah, how much money do you need
for your next film? [LOL]
KW: How much do you need?
AB: Probably about $3 million.
Hopefully, Kinyarwanda will show people
what I’m capable of doing on a small budg-
et.
AB: The Manning Marable biography of
Malcolm X.
KW: The music maven Heather
Covington question: What was the last song
you heard?
AB: A song called The Waitress by a
folksinger named Jonathan Bird.
KW: What is your favorite dish to cook?
AB: My lobster bisque and my seafood
bisque are both pretty badass.
KW: When you look in the mirror, what
do you see?
AB: I do look in the mirror frequently. But
I look past the physical and I feel proud of
what I see, because I know where my heart
is and the struggles I’ve been through to be
able to stand where I’m standing.
KW: If you could have one wish instantly
granted, what would that be for?
AB: If I answered that question it would
be a lie, because I couldn’t tell you the truth.
KW: The Ling-Ju Yen question: What is
your earliest childhood memory?
AB: Waking up from a nightmare at about
2 or 3 years of age in Jamaica, and hearing
a woman screaming outside of the house.
KW: The Judyth Piazza question: What
I know a very personal Africa, that isn’t National
Geographic. So, as a filmmaker, I was
determined to show the truth that I know that
we rarely get to see
KW: The Tasha Smith question: Are you
ever afraid?
AB: I don’t think I’m ever afraid, but I
doubt myself often. Because of that doubt, I
constantly strive to make myself better.
KW: The Columbus Short question: Are
you happy?
AB: That’s a good question, Kam. I’m
proud, but I’m not happy, because the debt
is stifling, the work is intense, I miss my
family tremendously, and I don’t have any-
one to share this journey with. Sometimes, I
feel very alone.
KW: The Teri Emerson question: When
was the last time you had a good laugh?
AB: [Chuckles] About a half-hour ago.
I’m trying to enjoy this journey as much as
I can.
KW: What is your guiltiest pleasure?
AB: [LOL] I have a lot of those, man.
Sex… Haagen Dazs strawberry ice cream…
people watching… and writing a good
scene. I can stay high for weeks after writ-
ing something that I love.
KW: The bookworm Troy Johnson ques-
tion: What was the last book you read?
key quality do you believe all successful
people share?
AB: Persistence and discipline. Without
those two, you have nothing, no matter how
talented you are.
KW: Dante Lee, author of “Black
Business Secrets, asks: What was the best
business decision you ever made, and what
was the worst?
AB: My best business decision was
becoming a writer as well as a director, and
learning all aspects of the filmmaking craft.
My worst business decision was licensing
music that I don’t own.
KW: The Sanaa Lathan question: What
excites you?
AB: Storytelling. Nothing gets me more
juiced up than having an impact on people.
KW: The Tavis Smiley question: How do
you want to be remembered?
AB: I want people to know that I tried.
KW: Thanks again, Alrick, and best of
luck with Kinyarwanda.
AB: Thank you so much, Kam, I really
appreciate it.