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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 30, 2013)
Arts & Entertainment Film Review: ‘Sweet Dreams’ Rwandan documentary chronicles a female drumming troupe’s ice cream venture T he 1994 Civil War left the beleaguered African nation of Rwanda a bloody mess, both literally and figurative- ly. Not only had the warring tribes, the Hutus and the Tutsis, hacked each other to death with machetes to the tune of about a million bod- ies scattered across the countryside, but to this day many of the survivors of the ethnic cleansing remain totally traumatized by the slaughter they’d witnessed. Consequently, much of K AM ’ S C APSULES Movie Reviews by Kam Williams understandable that it might hard to get over a conflict which pitted neighbor against neighbor, and even relative against relative. The film recounts their effort to open the first ice cream shop in Rwandan history the populace still walks around in a daze sporting blank, 1,000 yard stares some refer to as battle fatigue or shell shock which shrinks refer to clinically as post-traumatic stress syn- drome. For, it is One survivor, theater director Kiki Katese, deter- mined to do something to alleviate the suffering, asked, “How do you rebuild a human being?” So, she founded Ingoma Nshya (meaning “new drum, new kingdom”), an all-female drumming troupe com- prised of both Tutsis and Hutus, with admission being conditioned on checking ones tribal alle- giance at the door. Besides affording the 60-strong membership an opportunity to pound rhythmically on congas, the gathering simultaneously served as a support group offering heal- ing and reconciliation. In 2010, Kiki came up with another innovative idea, namely, opening Rwanda’s first ice cream parlor. This time, she enlist- ed the support of Jennie Dundas and Alexis Miesen, proprietors of a place locat- ed half a world away in Brooklyn called Blue Mar- ble Ice Cream. The game New Yorkers answered the call, traveling to Rwanda to help Kiki real- ize that dream. Together they created Sweet Dreams, a shop owned and operated cooperatively by a number of the women from Ingoma Nshya. All of the above is affec- tionately recounted in Sweet Dreams, an uplifting documentary co-directed by Lisa and Rob Fruchtman. Kiki and her companions cut a sharp contrast to the bulk of their fellow country- men peppering the desolate background, lost souls who seem broken in spirit between mourning mur- dered kin and facing bleak prospects for a better tomor- row. A female empowerment flick featuring a blend of ice cream and drumming as a viable path to rehabilitation and reconciliation. Very Good III Unrated In English and Kinyarwanda with subtitles Running time: 84 minutes Distributor: International Film Circuit / Liro Films The N ews is getting a new look Coming November www.theskanner.com October 30, 2013 The Portland Skanner Page 7
