Synopsis
KUBANA means « living together » in Kinyarwanda. A philosophical necessity written into the language, and the question director Alunaya asks Rwanda thirty years after the genocide perpetrated against the Tutsi: how can a people live together again after the unspeakable?
The answer spans four generations: a historian born in 1933 who watched hatred take shape before it had a name, researchers and artists who work with memory so it doesn’t close in on itself, women whose bodies haven’t forgotten, a former perpetrator of the genocide speaking to his son for the first time. On the eighth day of filming, M23 takes Goma. The ideology that fled in 1994 has never stopped operating sixty kilometers away.
Built as a cinematic essay, KUBANA is an urgent, anticolonial work. A film that looks squarely at what living together truly costs.
Director’s Statement
KUBANA is the rewriting of another film: Résilience. In 2019, I arrived in Rwanda with six months ahead of me and theoretical research behind me. A history of Rwanda that began, and ended, in 1994. After two months, I understood that this angle wasn’t quite accurate - it was, above all, external. What I was seeing wasn’t people overcoming something. It was people choosing, every day, to keep living together.
It was Chrysologue Kubwimana who gave me the word. When I shared my thinking with him, he told me: in Kinyarwanda, what you’re describing is called kubana. Living together. That shift from an imported idea to a grounded observation became the film itself.
Of Afro-Caribbean descent, having grown up in France and then Canada, I carry a certain sensitivity to these questions. Having lived through the genocide neither closely nor from afar, I hold an emotional distance I hope is useful: a cognitive empathy that lets me approach the subject with care without being overwhelmed by the tragedy. What I found in Rwanda were men and women, young people especially, standing tall, proud, free, wanting to be heard, who trusted me with their confidences.
As an interdisciplinary artist, I compose my films the way I compose my paintings: color, texture, symmetry, slowness. No voiceover, no on-screen presence. This withdrawal is a political gesture: refusing to impose an outside narration and leaving all the space to Rwandan voices.
Showing this image of Rwanda was already necessary in 2019. Today, another dimension has been added. In the Great Lakes region, the ideology of hatred that fled in 1994 has never disappeared. It has crossed generations without access to initiatives that could dismantle it, and now spreads on social media, within global reach. Faced with that, and with the divisions intensifying in our own societies, KUBANA is not just a film about Rwanda. It’s a universal story that happens to unfold on Rwanda’s stage.
- Alunaya
The Director
Alunaya is a director, visual artist and author based in Montreal. Her work belongs to the essay-documentary tradition, an embodied cinema where the intimate speaks with collective history. She explores memory and identity through the traces of colonial history, with close attention to gestures of reclamation.
Her feature film KUBANA, filmed in Rwanda, questions the conditions of living together. She also directed Des racines nées, which opened RIDM 2022 as part of the Regard sur Montréal residency, and Nio Far, shot in Senegal.
Filmography
- KUBANA - Documentary, 99 min, 2026
- Des racines nées - Documentary, 8 min, 2022
- Nio Far - Documentary, 84 min, 2018
- Personne - Documentary, 38 min, 2015
- Art is the Message x Claudio - Documentary, 19 min, 2015
Team & Credits
Research, Writer, Director, Editor
Producer
Director of Photography
Sound Recordist
INIS Mentorship
Fixer
Assistant Camera
Assistant Camera
Drone Operator
Drone Operator
Lucky Films
Set Photographer
Set Photographer
Original Music
Original Music
Sound Design
Inanga
Vocals
Vocals
Vocals
Vocals
Vocals
Additional Music
Artwork
Artwork
Artwork
Artwork
Painter
Cast
Full Credits
Archives
Africa Museum, Getty Images, All Canada Photos, Reuters, Cinematek, Frank MEYNET // HIPPOLYTE, Jack Picone, Olivier Mugwisa
Studio
Upper China Studios (Montreal), Studio Oblique (Ottawa), Chraiza Studios (Toronto)
Production & Post-Production
- Production Administration - Ian Jacquier
- Welder - Robert Yamukujije
- Costumes - Moise Turahurwa (Moshions)
- Hair - Carine Maniraguha (Sawa Hair Creation Studio)
- Drivers - Emmanuel Kwizera, Anderson Mwizera, Damascene Rutagengwa
- Location Management - Jean-Luc Nsengiyumva, Jean De la Paix, Aimé Uwizeye
- Set Technicians - Amini Tambwe, Jean-Pierre Umukiza
- Psychosocial Support - Émilienne Mukansoro
- Consultation - Joséphine Dusabimana, Gamaliel Mbonimana, Amdjadi Mugarura
- Facilitator - Émilienne Mukansoro, Assumpta Mugiraneza
- Historical Consultant - François Robinet
- Archival Research & Rights Clearance - LaNégo, Marie-Josée Ferron, Mathieu Amadei
- Assistant Editor - Étienne Ravary
- Post-Production - Outpost
- Post-Production Producer - Julia Aubry
- Project Manager - Delphine Cloarec
- Post-Production Coordinator - Claudie Robidoux
- Colorist - Martin Gaumond
- Assistant Colorist - Sébastien Prince
- Flame Artists - Amélie Santerre, Chloé Laplante
- Assistant Flame - Chloé Laplante
- Lead Mixer - Joey Simas
- Dialogue Editor - Charles Lacoursière
- Sound Assistant - Charles Lacoursière
- Graphic Design - Six Cinquième
- Creative Director - Ash Phillips
- Art Director - Monida Panchapor Bou
- Graphic Design, Motion Design - Jeanard Saberon
- Project Management - Naureen Zadvat
- Image - Antony Ma
- On-Set Translation - Jean-Pierre Sagahutu, Émilienne Mukansoro, Manzi Abdul Hakim Mbaya, Xavier Nsengiyumva
- Kinyarwanda Translation - Marie-Josée Gicali
- English Translation - Sarita Ahooja
- Subtitle Editorial Review - Huguette Prosper
- Subtitling - Difuze
Acknowledgments
The director wishes to thank: Denis McCready, Bob Losty, Spry, Charles Mony, Isabelle Vitte, Francis Lavoie, Tanya Lécuyer, Pascal Gelinas, Ronald Setako, Stéphane Ugeux, Mick Dupont, Chrysologue Kubwimana, Assumpta Mugiraneza, Mucyo, Noé, Teddy Mazina, Philbert Mbabazi, François Robinet, Jessica Mwiza, Patrick Kiruhura, Fiacre Mutabazi, Rémi Korman, Isis, Nadine & Martin, Chalilotte, Nicolas Dongier, Violaine Faye, Guillaume Adan, Dave Kwizera, Jemima Kakizi, Cheryl Isheja, Etienne Kahigi, Juvénile, Laurent, Cariste, Aline, Thomas, Innocent, Marie Irene, JEDA, Petr, Placide, Kevin Nyirigira, Gael Ruboneka, Dominique Fils-Aimé, Daniel Masse, Guillaume Gagnon, Julia Montrose, Alison Marchal, Yekima, Gentille Assih, Charles Hall, Ibn, Gabrielle Lebeau, Alizée Laventure, Samuel Labarre, Karine Dovani, Emmanuelle Moussa.
The producer wishes to thank: Denis McCready, Ian Jaquier, Jean-Pierre Sagahutu, Xavier Nsengiyumva, Mylène Augustin, Éric Idriss Kanago, Hervé Kimenyi, Manzi Mbaye, Thomas Nsanzimana, Ivan Mugemanyi, Innocent Ngendahimana, Amdjadi Mugarura, Noe Niyonzima, Natyf, Jean-Yves Roux, Nancy Dubuisson, INIS, Julia Mercier, Téléfilm Canada, Talents en vue, Fabrice Ravier, SODEC, Sophie Tremblay, Anne Cusson, Jennifer Johnston, Ejo Hacu, Emilienne Mukansoro, Museum Ingabo and team, King Ngabo, Centre Iriba, Assumpta Mugiraneza, Talking Through Art, Petr von Kootchzenberg, Espace Plus, Kaya Byinshii, Bigogwe Farm, l’Institut français du Rwanda, Mémorial du génocide de Kigali, Mémorial du génocide de Nyange, Le Ministère de l’Unité Nationale et de l’Engagement Civique du Rwanda, Fika Café, Eagle View.
© XSKY Productions 2026
Technical Information
| Country of production | Canada |
| Filming location | Rwanda |
| Original languages | French, English, Kinyarwanda, Swahili |
| Subtitles | French, English, Kinyarwanda |
| English title | KUBANA, living together |
| Funding | Telefilm Canada, SODEC, Film and Television Tax Credit, CMF |
| Production format | 6K, color |
| Sound | 5.1 surround |
| Projection ratio | 16:9 |