| Rwanda Film Festival | |
| Location: | Kigali, Rwanda |
| Founded: | 2005 |
| Awards: | Silverback Awards |
| Language: | International |
| Number: | most 100 (2012)[1] |
The Rwanda Film Festival, also known as Hillywood, is a film festival held annually in July in Kigali, Rwanda. The Rwanda Film Festival gained worldwide recognition over the past years and has become one of Africa's major film events.
The Rwanda Film Festival was founded in 2005 by Eric Kabera.[2] [3] Presented by the Rwanda Cinema Center, an organization that aims to promote the country's film industry, the Rwanda Film Festival, nicknamed "Hillywood" due to Rwanda's nickname of "Land of a Thousand Hills", is a travelling festival. Due to Kabera's desire to show the films to as large of an audience as possible, the festival is held not only in the capital of Kigali, but the films, especially ones made by Rwandan film-makers, are also shown on large inflatable screens in rural areas throughout the country.[4] More recently, Kabera has stated that the festival will make a move away from focusing only on the issue of the genocide; rather "other social issues" of modern Rwanda will be explored.[5]
The Silverback Awards were launched after the Silverback Sponsorship from London firm Hard Media with the Rwanda Film Festival.[6]