THE DEAD ARE ALIVE

The Dead Are Alive is a powerful synthesis of more than hundred videotapes of previously unreleased footage shot by Els and a number of amateur cameramen throughout the endless night of the horror events.

The background: After covering the death of the Hutu President when his plane was shot down, the international news agencies believed the Rwandan story had "dried up" and recalled or reassigned their foreign correspondents. The real story, however, has only just begun, with the massacre of thousands of Tutsi Rwandans and no one was there to record the genocide. No one, that is, but Els De Temmerman, the only working journalist who remained through all the horrific events that followed. As a Belgian her life was in constant jeopardy. She concealed her identity and ignored UN peacekeepers warnings, so great was her determination to bear witness to the tragedy before her.

Tracking the story from the death of the Rwandan President to the establishment of the sprawling refugee camps, "The Dead Are Alive" weaves the thread of events into a coherent picture of horror on an almost unimaginable scale. Who were the architects of the genocide? What are the powers at play? What was the role of the international community, church, press?

Director Anna Van Der Wee, 1995