GOD SLEEPS IN RWANDA by Kimberlee Acquaro and Stacy Sherman wins year’s Best Documentary Emmy Award. After winning multiple Audience and Critic Awards at film festivals across the country, after its nomination for the Best Documentary Short Academy Award®, and after its acclaimed broadcast on HBO/Cinemax’s Reel Life Series, this powerful film has received the top honors from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The other documentary winner is a Canadian film also about the Rwandan genocide, Shake Hands With The Devil: The Journey of Roméo Dallaire. The News and Documentary Emmys were presented last week in New York City.
Uncovering amazing stories of hope in the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide, Academy Award-Nominee
GOD SLEEPS IN RWANDA captures the spirit of five courageous women as they rebuild their lives, redefine women’s roles in Rwandan society and bring hope to a wounded nation.
The 1994 Rwandan Genocide left the country nearly 70 percent female, handing Rwanda’s women an extraordinary burden and an unprecedented opportunity. Girls are attending school in record numbers, and women now make up a large part of the country’s leadership. Working with two cameras and no crew except for their translator—a genocide survivor herself—the filmmakers uncover incredible stories: an HIV-positive policewoman raising four children alone and attending night school to become a lawyer, a teenager who has become head of household for her four siblings, and a young woman orphaned in her teens who is now the top development official in her area. Heart-wrenching and inspiring, this powerful film is a brutal reminder of the consequences of the Rwandan tragedy, and a tribute to the strength and spirit of those who are moving forth.