The remarkable story of reconciliation taking place in a nation haunted by genocide is captured in the award-winning documentary As We Forgive, released last month.

The 53-minute program traces the journey toward forgiveness of people whose lives were irrevocably changed by the 1994 bloodletting in Rwanda that saw more than 1 million people killed in a frenzy of ethnic violence between Hutus and Tutsis.

Laura Waters Hinson traveled to the small African country to record the efforts of what the makers of the film describe as a seemingly "radical and, frankly, unreal" reconciliation project established by Anglican Bishop John Rucyahana, which brings together victims and perpetrators of the violence.

As We Forgive follows Rosario Bankundiye, pregnant when she was widowed and seriously injured herself in the clashes, as she meets the neighbor who had murdered her sister. One of many involved in the killings who had been released from prison and returned to his home area, the neighbor builds Bankundiye a new home as part of the bishop's project.

Hinson also filmed Chantale Ukebereyinfura, who lost 30 of her family members during the bloodshed, as she meets John Nzabonimpa, the former family friend who murdered her father.

As We Forgive--narrated by actress Mia Farrow--won a 2008 Student Academy Award for Best Documentary. The film premiered in Rwanda in July as part of the country's Festival of Hope commemorating the 15th anniversary of the killings.

Read more in the Oct. 12 issue of Christian Retailing magazine.

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