Rwandese short film Maibobo has picked up the CUMSE Prize during the 20th Festival Cinema Africano d’Asia e America Latina (FCAAAL) in Milan, Italy. A convincing début as well as a moving and critical work, Maibobo follows a country boy who moves to town hoping for a better future.
The 30-minute film, co-directed by Yves Montand Nyongabo and Jean Bosco Nshimiyimana, was selected for the International Film Festival Rotterdam’s Forget Africa project by IFFR program advisor Inge de Leeuw. Maibobo, also supported by Rotterdam’s Hubert Bals Fund, premiered during IFFR 2010.
FCAAAL’s CUMSE Prize consists of the acquisition of the home-video distribution rights for an African short film or documentary and is awarded by a jury of representatives of the foreign communities in Milan and by CUMSE volunteers.
During the Rwandan civil war in 1994, many children lost their parents. Fifteen years later these kids, often mockingly known as 'maibobo' (street kids), live on the fringes of society. Maibobo provides a realistic and moving picture of the living conditions of these children, whose hope for a beautiful future is zero. In lengthy shots, Niyongabo follows a country boy who hopes for a better future in town. His quest ends in disappointment when he finds more hostility and hypocrisy than happiness. He is, however, lovingly taken in by other street children. This story provides subtle criticism of the one-sided media reporting in Rwanda, where a rose-colored future is sketched for all young people. Niyongabo allowed himself to be inspired by the many stories of street kids in Rwanda and in Maibobo he gives them a voice. In his first film, the young Niyongabo shows he has great feeling for style, picture and rhythm and is a very committed film maker.