Rwanda & Juliet: In Shakespeare’s play, Romeo and Juliet, Juliet asks: “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” The oft-quoted passage takes on new meaning in a production of Romeo and Juliet staged in Rwanda with both Hutu and Tutsi victims of the 1994 genocide. The documentary film “Rwanda & Juliet” follows the production of Shakespeare’s famous tragedy in Kigali, Rwanda in the spring of 2013. But what the director thought would be a film about the healing power of art turned out to be a cautionary tale about imposing your values on others. "Rwanda & Juliet" screens at Meredith College on October 10th as part of a week-long celebration of the English department. Host Frank Stasio speaks with the film’s director, Ben Proudfoot, and with Gary Walton, dean of the School of Arts and Humanities and professor of English at Meredith College, about cultural imperialism and art as reconciliation.
Rwanda & Juliet
Breakwater Studios
