Local crew returns from documentary trip

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This article was published 07/05/2018 (2706 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When Julie Epp went to Rwanda this spring, it had been four years since she had last seen her adoptive son, Claude Hashakimana. 

The 22-year-old was one of the subjects in Epp’s current project, a documentary titled A New Rwanda. The Wolseley resident has a background in photography, music and design, and recently began to cultivate her videography and filmmaking skills as well.

“The country is now 24 years after the genocide,” Epp said. “I always felt like people, certainly people here only still know Rwanda for the genocide. Because I’ve been there a number of times I wanted people to see who they are today.

“The story is told through some young people, that some of them were born right after the genocide or around that time, and the really neat things they were doing.”

Epp said that she and a crew of close friends (Jordan Popowich, cinematographer, Safali Eugene, location sound, Julie Fulsher, photographer and Ivy Dickson, friend) were able to speak to seven different Rwandans, but the story that stands out is Hashakimana’s. The documentary follows his journey back to the village where he was raised by family members after his parents died.

“We had this really amazing journey,” she said. “He had wanted me to come with him to see his family. Through applying for a passport, he had to find out some of his history, so he went on this solo journey and found out where he lived when he was five to seven, and in that process, he met his aunt.

“So we get to this village where his second aunt raised him, and we walked down and filmed everything, and they had no communication, so he last saw her two years before. They had no idea we were coming, we just sort of showed up at their house.

“She directed us to the village he was born in… so it was very powerful, the whole day… he kept meeting people that knew of him and his story and knew about this kid whose mom died.”

Soon after Epp returned to Winnipeg, she received tragic news regarding the family they had met in Rwanda. Due to unusually heavy rain, a landslide crushed their home, killing four of the five people that lived there. It was shocking news for Epp and Hashakimana both, who have to mourn the loss so soon after reconnecting.

“Claude was so deeply touched by this and their family — especially the young kids. He had grown up the same way in that same house and his heart was with them,” Epp said. “I am so very grateful we had the opportunity to meet them, that they were able to help Claude connect with his birth place and other family.”

Now home, Epp and her team will be in post-production for the documentary, which they hope to have finished by January.

“It was great to see him,” Epp said of Hashakimana. “But also great to see how much he’s grown up.”

To donate money to funerals for the family, visit gofundme.com/claudefamilyfund