Amelia Umuhire

Amelia Umuhire (born 1991) is a Rwandan-German film director, producer, and screenwriter.

Amelia Umuhire
Born1991 (age 29–30)
Kigali
NationalityRwandan-German
OccupationFilm director, producer, screenwriter
Years active2015-present

Biography

Umuhire was born in Kigali, Rwanda in 1991. She has two sisters, Anna Dushime, a journalist at Buzzfeed, and Amanda Mukasonga, who has performed with Umuhire. Her mother Esther Mujawayo is an activist and trauma therapist.[1] During the 1994 Rwandan genocide, her father and aunt were killed because they were Tutsi.[2] Umuhire fled to Germany as a child, attending school and receiving German citizenship at age 11. Growing up, she found answers regarding identity and purpose in African-American culture.[3] Umuhire moved to Vienna to study and then to Berlin.[1]

In 2015, she made her directorial debut with the popular Web series Polyglot. It received the Best German Web Series award. Umuhire directed the short film Mugabo in 2016. Filmed in Kigali, it features an Afro-European taking a visit to Rwanda for the first time since the 1994 genocide.[4] She directed a commissioned video used as a performance piece for the twentieth-anniversary tour of The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.[5] In 2018, Umuhire directed a podcast about her father's life.[2] Entitled Vaterland, it was nominated for the Prix Europa. She directed the video installation King Who, filmed at her aunt's house, in 2019. Umuhire received the Villa Romana Prize in 2020.[3] She made the experimental sound and video collage Kana about life on Mars in 2020.[6]

Her work has been exhibited at several film festivals, including MOCA Los Angeles, MCA Chicago, Tribeca Film Festival, Smithsonian African American Film Festival, International Film Festival Rotterdam.[4]

Filmography
  • 2015: Polyglot (Web series)
  • 2016: Mugabo
  • 2019: King Who
  • 2020: Kana

References
  1. Agyen, Akua (9 May 2016). "TALKING FILM WITH DIRECTOR AND FILMMAKER AMELIA UMUHIRE". Ayiba Magazine. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  2. "Speaking from the Void: A Conversation with Filmmaker Amelia Umuhire". MCA. 13 December 2018. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  3. Negusse, Mearg (12 December 2019). "Amelia Umuhire: Unpacking Hidden Rwandese Stories". Contemporary And. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  4. "Amelia Umuhire: FKBP5". Contemporary And. 7 February 2019. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  5. Price, Yasmina. "Amelia Umuhire, Polyglot Ep. 2: Le Mal du pays (Homesickness)". E-flux. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
  6. "Amelia Umuhire at Gemeinde Köln / Cologne". Daily Lazy. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
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