The Things We Don't Say

30 years after the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, a group of young Rwandans gather to confront buried family secrets.

Director Ornella Mutoni was a baby when she and her family escaped the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. 30 years later, she meets with a group of young Rwandans to confront buried family secrets and inherited trauma. Guided by therapist and genocide survivor Emilienne, they come together to break cycles of silence and stigma, and begin to heal the wounds passed down through generations.

"If the silence continues and the effects of trauma are not tended to, what happens to the next generation? When pain is concealed, can it erupt into violence?" Mutoni's compelling directorial debut short premiered at the 2024 Aesthetica Film Festival and was acquired by the Guardian.