Aime Octave takes us to Rwanda

What does it mean to you to win a YDA?

I have admired works from YDA for so long, it’s a bit surreal that my film was shortlisted and won. For me, winning is recognition, its visibility. It’s the best working today seeing the work and saying “we believe this” “we see it” “we feel it.” I can’t think of what else to ask for, truly. I am really grateful for this moment and award.

For me, winning is recognition, its visibility.

How did you get into directing?

My fascination with music and sound grew from listening to classical and traditional Rwandan music with my parents when I was very little, every Rwandan house at the time would play radio-theater all day, laid with sound effects because that was the only way to establish locations and atmospheres. My visual curiosity also started early, but I couldn’t draw to save my life. My dad had a couple of cameras, one of them being a ZENIT 35mm photography camera, so I would shoot with it, and later I borrowed his digital cameras (I don’t think he would use “borrowed” but that’s a story for another day)

I grew up in Kigali, the capital. Up until 18, I had never travelled. My cinema experience at the time was a box Philips TV set, a cabinet full of VHS tapes, and friends, together we created our film community, and later came CDs. So, I had all the ingredients in my lived experience, but to think film directing can be a career, that was something very far from my mind and reality.

I worked in documentary photography from age 16. I pursued an education in Architecture in China, still taking photographs at events, clubs, parties, and so on, but during the pandemic everything and everyone got quiet; I could no longer ignore the voice in my head. I took a leap of faith and decided to reorient to film, where, among other schools, I was accepted into the RITCS in Brussels.

What was the inspiration behind Echoes Beneath The Hill?

My mother grew up in a family of about nine siblings. Like many families at the time, they reared animals for farming and food. One day, the children ended up liking this specific goat, and they fought for the goat not to be eaten or sold. I heard that story when I was young myself. Even in a family that didn’t have much, there was this innocence from the children that protected an animal.

I wanted to take us on a journey of the laughs, the complicity of childhood, the comfort of home and family.

There is also that I was born and raised in Rwanda. You say Rwanda, especially outside Africa, and all people will mostly hear is genocide; you discover that a perception of your country has already been established. I made this film to step away from the objective third person lens I felt when I watched films that told this story before. I worried that they used my country’s history and allowed a certain depiction, which rendered black bodies lying down in the streets. It is a very common sight, unfortunately, in African news reports and reportages; the storytelling begins and ends with violence.

I wanted to take us on a journey of the laughs, the complicity of childhood, the comfort of home and family, and how all of it is ultimately taken away, but with them at the centre as they absorb this shift in atmosphere, emotionally and psychologically.

How long was the shoot?

We shot for 11 days with two individual breaks in the middle.

Above: A selection of BTS photographs from the shoot.

What was the most challenging aspect of the project?

On our break, Clarence, the cinematographer, and I drove three hours from our stay back to the city for a location check, and I had to visit my grandma who fell ill suddenly. The last two days when I was shooting, she had gotten worse. We finished scouting and rushed to the hospital. I was not allowed to see her, and we had to come back early at 4AM I saw her in the morning, and she could recognise me. We spoke; I hugged her and drove back to set.

Two hours before we wrapped for the day, in the mountains, I get the call that she had passed. 

Two hours before we wrapped for the day, in the mountains, I get the call that she had passed. My last remaining grandma, who lost children and grandchildren in the genocide against the Tutsi, a direct inspiration of the film I was doing, had just passed on. This was the most challenged I had been as a maker and as a human being. I leaned on Nora (Producer), Clarence (cinematographer), and our storyboards in that pocket of time to guide me and the crew until we were back on the bus.

What have you learned during the process of making this film?

It is definitely hard for everyone when making a worthwhile project. My most important lesson has been to truly be wise about the people you decide to walk with in what’s to be a forest of uncertainty. Nora (Producer) and Clarence (Cinematographer) were my anchors during pre-production, and when the crew came on, it was the most magical thing how everyone was working on the same frequency. I think in the future, I will be jealous of the collaborators I had with me on this film. I am full of gratitude when it comes to them.

To: Crew of Echoes Beneath The Hill. Love Love Love you. – Octave.