Genocide survivors seek film cash

The crowd erupted in boos and cheers during Hotel Rwanda

An association of survivors of the 1994 Rwanda genocide has called on the makers of films about the atrocity to pay royalties to those who survived it.

Three films on the Rwandan genocide have been made in the last year.

One of them, the Oscar-nominated Hotel Rwanda, was screened for the first time at a stadium in the capital, Kigali this week, in front of 10,000 people.

The makers of Hotel Rwanda say they are contributing to a fund for genocide survivors, through the United Nations.

The UN foundation will help orphans, train doctors and nurses, and set up a film school in Rwanda, it says.

'Human nature'

The call for royalties was made on the 11th anniversary of the start of the violence, by the Survivors of Genocide Association, known as Ibuka.

Some 800,000 ethnic Tutsis and moderate Hutus were slaughtered in 100 days by Hutu extremists.

All three films will be shown in Kigali's main stadium

On Thursday, some 5,000 people attended an official ceremony to mark a week of commemoration of the genocide in the north-eastern town of Murambi.

The remains of some of those dumped in mass graves were reburied in coffins draped in mauve and white.

Hotel Rwanda tells the true story of hotel owner Paul Rusesabagina's attempts to shelter refugees.

Survivor Anne, 46, who took shelter in the hotel, saw the film and said: "They portrayed human nature well."

She added: "I was there. It reminds me of my family, I stayed there for a month, separated from my husband and children."

Hotel Rwanda has received worldwide acclaim, culminating in three Oscar nominations in January, including one for Don Cheadle for best actor.

Boos erupted during a scene when machetes were dumped on the ground, with cheering when Hutu extremists were killed by the Tutsi-led Rwandan Patriotic Front.

In January, the same stadium hosted a premiere of another genocide film, Sometimes in April, while yet another, Shooting Dogs, will be shown there later this year.