Movies
Aid organisations have attacked BBC-funded filmmakers in Rwanda for acting insensitively.
The charities have questioned the decision of Shooting Dogs producers to recreate massacre scenes where the tragedies actually took place.
At one location, students from a school were taken to hospital and sedated while they endured flashbacks prompted by chants and whistles from an angry mob. One crew member had a breakdown when he was taken to a street where he hid down a manhole for three months to escape killers.
Mary Kayitesi Blewitt, director of UK-based Rwandan charity Survivors' Fund, spoke of the problems the filming prompted. "In Rwanda, if you see a machete being wielded - it doesn't matter if it's for a film - it seems real," she said. "When the shoot was over, we had to step up trauma counselling.
"It took some people six months to overcome the anxiety, fear and paranoia," Blewitt continued. "What really hurts is that the BBC will be making money from the film, but it has not put a penny into the organisations dealing with all this."
A Unicef spokesman echoed her sentiments. "It's important to highlight issues like the Rwandan conflict," he said. "But reliving these experiences can be traumatic for children and we encourage journalists and others who work with survivors to adhere to our guidelines."
Shooting Dogs writer and producer David Belton said he regrets the problems at the school.
"We took great pains to avoid local people being confronted with the disturbing scenes, and had two trauma counsellors and medical staff on hand," he explained. "We made the film in Rwanda because the Rwandans wanted us to. They were appalled that Hotel Rwanda was filmed in South Africa, with South African actors."
The charities have questioned the decision of Shooting Dogs producers to recreate massacre scenes where the tragedies actually took place.
At one location, students from a school were taken to hospital and sedated while they endured flashbacks prompted by chants and whistles from an angry mob. One crew member had a breakdown when he was taken to a street where he hid down a manhole for three months to escape killers.
Mary Kayitesi Blewitt, director of UK-based Rwandan charity Survivors' Fund, spoke of the problems the filming prompted. "In Rwanda, if you see a machete being wielded - it doesn't matter if it's for a film - it seems real," she said. "When the shoot was over, we had to step up trauma counselling.
"It took some people six months to overcome the anxiety, fear and paranoia," Blewitt continued. "What really hurts is that the BBC will be making money from the film, but it has not put a penny into the organisations dealing with all this."
A Unicef spokesman echoed her sentiments. "It's important to highlight issues like the Rwandan conflict," he said. "But reliving these experiences can be traumatic for children and we encourage journalists and others who work with survivors to adhere to our guidelines."
Shooting Dogs writer and producer David Belton said he regrets the problems at the school.
"We took great pains to avoid local people being confronted with the disturbing scenes, and had two trauma counsellors and medical staff on hand," he explained. "We made the film in Rwanda because the Rwandans wanted us to. They were appalled that Hotel Rwanda was filmed in South Africa, with South African actors."
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