From Arusha to Arusha focuses on the Rwandan tragedy in order to examine the functioning of the international justice system. It examines both the activities of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), which is prosecuting those responsible for the genocide, as well as those of the gacaca courts, the people’s tribunals, which are working towards justice through reconciliation.
By juxtaposing archival audiovisual footage of an international court enacting justice behind closed doors, with images and testimony gathered in the field, the film presents conflicting points of view and invites the Rwandan people to re-appropriate their own history.
Christophe Gargot has his roots in the rich documentary tradition of such filmmakers as Raymond Depardon, people who are interested in focussing on the rituals of large institutions. This film examines the issue of universal moral values in action while at the same time questioning our relationship with the images we take in and our responsibilities as world citizens.
This provocative documentary uncovers a lost chapter in Canadian military history: how the Armed Forces dealt with homosexual behaviour among soldiers, during and after World War II. More than 60 years later, a group of five veterans, barely adults when they enlisted, break the silence to talk about how homosexual behaviour "was even more unmentionable than cancer." Yet amidst the brutality of war, instances of sexual awakening among soldiers and officers were occuring. Initially, the Army overlooked it, but as the war advanced, they began to crack down: military tribunals, threats of imprisonment, discharge and public exposure. After the war, officers accused of homosexuality were discharged. Back home in Canada, reputations and careers were ruined. For the young men who had served their country with valour, this final chapter was often too much to bear. Based on the book Courting Homosexuals in the Military by Paul Jackson.