Greetings from the colony

Born in the colonial time from a Belgian agent and a Rwandan woman, Suzanne is only 4 years old when her father brings her to Europe in 1930 to give her a European education. She is, as people would have put it then, «a mulatto child saved from a negro destiny. »
Suzanne’s father is also the director’s grandfather, who discovered only at the age of 27 that she had a mixed race aunt. Twenty years later, she makes this film, in which the family story intersects the bigger history. Suzanne is one among hundreds of children to have been taken away from their homeland in absolute silence. A thousand others were simply abandoned in Africa. In both cases, their treatment was the result of politics based on racial segregation. The unique story of Suzanne echoes that of other children and belongs to a page of history whichremains to this day a national taboo.

Shooting Format : 16/9, color | Length : 74 minutes | Year : 2011
Original Languages : French – Kinyarwanda | Subtitles : English, German
Screening Support : BETA Digital, Beta SP, Dvcam, Blu Ray | DVD

AWARDS
Étoile, Scam 2012 (French Author Association);
Silverback for Best Documentary, Hillywood International Film Festival 2012, Rwanda.
Prix Spécial du Jury, Festival Lumières d’Afrique, Besançon 2012.
Prix de la Mémoire, , Ecollywood, Lille, 2012.
Magritte du Cinéma, Nominee, Belgium 2013.
Python Papou for Best Documentary, Quintescence, Benin 2013.

FESTIVALS
FIFF, Namur, 2011; FrauenFilmTage, Vienna 2012; HOTDOCS, Toronto 2012; Vues d’Afrique, Montreal 2012; Cinémas d’Afrique, Lausanne 2012; Rwanda Film Festival 2012; International Festival of Ferrara, Italy, 2012. Ecollywood, Lille, 2012; Escales Documentaries (Compétition Internationale), La Rochelle, 2012; Lumières d’Afrique, Besançon 2012; Documentary Panorama, Cork Film Festival 2012; Festival du Film de Famille, Saint Ouen 2012; forumdoc.bh.2012 International Competitive Film Showcase, Belo Horizonte, Brazil ; QUINTESSENCE, Festival International du Film de Ouidah, Bénin, 2013; FESPACO 2013, “Vu d’ailleurs”, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso; DOC DOC DOC 2013, Villedieu (France) ; FEMI _ Festival régional & international du cinéma de Guadeloupe 2013, officiel competition.

Theatrical Release: VENDÔME, Brussels, Mai 9 – June 12, 2012

Broadcasts: RTBF, La Trois, October 1st, 2011; ARTE, June 7, 2012.

CREDIT LIST
Writing & Directing: Nathalie Borgers
Image: Nicolas Rincon Gille
Sound: Gilles Laurent – Alex Davidson
Editing : Catherine Gouze
Sound editing: Charo Calvo – Alex Davidson
Original Music: Tuur Florizoone
Sound mixing: Alek Goosse – AGeNT Brussels
Production manager: Nadia Belali – France | Cyril Bibas – Belgium | Juvens Ntampuhwe – Rwanda
Producer: Cyril Bibas – CVB (Belgium)
Co-Producers : Carine Leblanc & Jean-Jacques Beineix – Cargo Films (France)

A Centre Vidéo de Bruxelles (CVB) production.
In coproduction with Cargo Films | Limited Adventures | RTBF Télévision belge – Unité Documentaire | ARTE Belgique | ARTE GEIE

A project developed by Joëlle Lonjon and Néon Rouge Productions within the framework of EURODOC program and with the support of the Centre de l’Audiovisuel à Bruxelles (CBA).

With the support of the Centre du Cinéma et de l’Audiovisuel de la Communauté française de Belgique et des télédistributeurs wallons, of the Vlaams audiovisueel Fonds, of the Centre National du Cinéma et de l’image animée (CNC), and of the Procirep & Angoa.

The CVB is funded by the Commission communautaire française (Cocof), the Communauté française Wallonie-Bruxelles – Ministery of Culture and Audiovisuel, and is supported by the Loterie nationale.