06 April 2010

Deborah Scranton's "Earth Made of Glass" dissects the meaning of forgiveness

In her TED 2007 talk, director Deborah Scranton detailed how she put cameras in the hands of soldiers fighting in Iraq to realize her acclaimed “The War Tapes” documentary.

For her new film, “Earth Made of Glass“, which will premiere on April 26th at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York (Film’s trailer – Facebook group – Director’s statement – Premiere tickets info), Scranton has focused on a post-war situation, that of Rwanda, where in the 1994 genocide at least 800’000 people were killed, according to estimates.

The film powerfully casts the Rwandan President, Paul Kagame, fighting to expose the truth of what happened in 1994 (including the hidden role played by the French government) while trying to lead his country through a delicate reconciliation process — and to put in place the conditions for economic and social development. And an ordinary man, Jean Pierre Sagahutu, a genocide survivor scouring the countryside to find clues about his father’s unsolved murder.

As each relentlessly pursues the truth, they find themselves faced with a choice: to enact vengeance, or forgive. Scranton’s careful narrative succeeds in dissecting their struggles to uncover the foundations of what it means to forgive — as an individual, and as a nation — and to try to end hatred and violence.

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