Anne Aghion
Encyclopedia
Anne Aghion is a French-American documentary film
maker and Guggenheim fellow.
In 2005, she won an Emmy Award
for her documentary
In Rwanda We Say…The Family That Does Not Speak Dies
.
s on post-genocide Rwanda
. Her feature film in the Rwanda
series My Neighbor, My Killer
poses the question of "How do you make it right again?" after the end of the genocide. It is the culmination of nearly ten years of footage gathered in Rwanda and was screened at the Cannes Film Festival
in May 2009. Her films closely examine the gacaca court
s, a community-based system of justice meaning "grass" in Kinyarwanda. In Aghion's first Rwanda film Gacaca, Living Together Again In Rwanda?
, she is filmed as a prosecutor
who tried the prisoners. The proceedings would occur on grass where anyone who had a denouncement against the accused would be free to speak. If no one accused the prisoner, then that prisoner would be freed. In Rwanda We Say…The Family That Does Not Speak Dies
chronicles Aghion's interviews with a genocide
offender who has been released back into his community and conversations with victims of the genocide. The films were shot in a small rural community over seven years and have been widely used by non-profit organization
s for educational and training purposes. The third installment of her Rwanda series "The Notebooks of Memory
" was released in 2009 and focuses on the local citizen-judges' examination of testimony from both the survivors and those accused of the crimes.
Her first film, Se Le Movió El Piso (The Earth Moved Under Him)—A Portrait of Managua
, was shot in the skid row of Managua
. The film gives viewers an inside look in the life of Nicaragua
n slum dwellers as they recount the numerous obstacles they have had to overcome in their lives.
Aghion took a four-month hiatus from the Rwandan film series and peregrinated to Antarctica, where she filmed her next film, Ice People
,. In the Ice People, she filmed the lives of geologist
s and North Dakota State University
professors Allan Ashworth and Adam Lewis and the McMurdo Station
staff over four months. The scientists, accompanied by two undergraduate students, researched fossils of ancient specimens as they sought to uncover the climatic evolution of the world's coldest continent. The film premiered at the San Francisco International Film Festival
in April 2008 and was screened at the Jerusalem Film Festival
in July 2008.
and Paris
.
Before becoming a filmmaker, Aghion held various posts at The New York Times
Paris bureau and the International Herald Tribune
. Prior to her debut as director and producer of her own films, she worked as a videographer, as well as production and post-production manager.
Aghion earned a Bachelor of Arts Magna Cum Laude in Arab Language
and Literature from Barnard College
at Columbia University
in New York, and following her studies, lived in Cairo
, Egypt
for two years.
in 2005 for her feature documentary
In Rwanda We Say…The Family That Does Not Speak Dies
and a UNESCO
Fellini Prize for Gacaca, Living Together Again In Rwanda?
. In 1996, her first documentary Se le movió el piso: A portrait of Managua
won the Coral Award for "Best Non-Latin American Documentary on Latin America" at the Havana Film Festival
in Havana
, Cuba
. Aghion is also a recipient of the prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship
and has received significant praise for her work.
My Neighbor My Killer was screened at the 2009 Human Rights Watch International Film Festival at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
in New York where Anne Aghion received the Néstor Almendros Award (named for the Oscar-winning Néstor Almendros
) for courage in filmmaking.
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
maker and Guggenheim fellow.
In 2005, she won an Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
for her documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
In Rwanda We Say…The Family That Does Not Speak Dies
In Rwanda We Say…The Family That Does Not Speak Dies
In Rwanda We Say…The Family That Does Not Speak Dies is a documentary film examining the Gacaca justice process in the aftermath of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide...
.
Filmmaking career
Aghion is best known for her documentary filmDocumentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
s on post-genocide Rwanda
Rwanda
Rwanda or , officially the Republic of Rwanda , is a country in central and eastern Africa with a population of approximately 11.4 million . Rwanda is located a few degrees south of the Equator, and is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo...
. Her feature film in the Rwanda
Rwanda
Rwanda or , officially the Republic of Rwanda , is a country in central and eastern Africa with a population of approximately 11.4 million . Rwanda is located a few degrees south of the Equator, and is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo...
series My Neighbor, My Killer
My Neighbor, My Killer
My Neighbor, My Killer is a 2009 French-American documentary film directed by Anne Aghion. It was given a special screening at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival and recently received Human Rights Watch's Nestor Almendros Prize for courage in filmmaking....
poses the question of "How do you make it right again?" after the end of the genocide. It is the culmination of nearly ten years of footage gathered in Rwanda and was screened at the Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
in May 2009. Her films closely examine the gacaca court
Gacaca court
The Gacaca court is part of a system of community justice inspired by tradition and established in 2001 in Rwanda, in the wake of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide, when between 800,000 and 1,000,000 Rwandans, mostly Tutsi, were slaughtered...
s, a community-based system of justice meaning "grass" in Kinyarwanda. In Aghion's first Rwanda film Gacaca, Living Together Again In Rwanda?
Gacaca, Living Together Again In Rwanda?
Gacaca, Living Together Again In Rwanda? is the first documentary film in a by Anne Aghion examining the aftermath of the Rwandan Genocide. Directed by Anne Aghion and produced by Dominant 7, Gacaca Productions, and Planète, this 2002 film won UNESCO's Fellini Prize. Filmed in Rwanda, the...
, she is filmed as a prosecutor
Prosecutor
The prosecutor is the chief legal representative of the prosecution in countries with either the common law adversarial system, or the civil law inquisitorial system...
who tried the prisoners. The proceedings would occur on grass where anyone who had a denouncement against the accused would be free to speak. If no one accused the prisoner, then that prisoner would be freed. In Rwanda We Say…The Family That Does Not Speak Dies
In Rwanda We Say…The Family That Does Not Speak Dies
In Rwanda We Say…The Family That Does Not Speak Dies is a documentary film examining the Gacaca justice process in the aftermath of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide...
chronicles Aghion's interviews with a genocide
Rwandan Genocide
The Rwandan Genocide was the 1994 mass murder of an estimated 800,000 people in the small East African nation of Rwanda. Over the course of approximately 100 days through mid-July, over 500,000 people were killed, according to a Human Rights Watch estimate...
offender who has been released back into his community and conversations with victims of the genocide. The films were shot in a small rural community over seven years and have been widely used by non-profit organization
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
s for educational and training purposes. The third installment of her Rwanda series "The Notebooks of Memory
The Notebooks of Memory
The Notebooks of Memory is the third documentary film in a by Anne Aghion examining the aftermath of the Rwandan Genocide.-Plot:Anne Aghion's third film in her Rwanda series concentrates on the local citizen-judges' tribunals, where they must weigh survivor accounts of the genocide massacres...
" was released in 2009 and focuses on the local citizen-judges' examination of testimony from both the survivors and those accused of the crimes.
Her first film, Se Le Movió El Piso (The Earth Moved Under Him)—A Portrait of Managua
Se le movió el piso: A portrait of Managua
Se le movió el piso: A portrait of Managua is a documentary film by Anne Aghion about how the people in Managua, Nicaragua survived an assortment of disasters occurring in their city. Directed by Anne Aghion and produced by Chaz Productions, this 1996 film won the Coral Award for "Best Non-Latin...
, was shot in the skid row of Managua
Managua
Managua is the capital city of Nicaragua as well as the department and municipality by the same name. It is the largest city in Nicaragua in terms of population and geographic size. Located on the southwestern shore of Lake Xolotlán or Lake Managua, the city was declared the national capital in...
. The film gives viewers an inside look in the life of Nicaragua
Nicaragua
Nicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...
n slum dwellers as they recount the numerous obstacles they have had to overcome in their lives.
Aghion took a four-month hiatus from the Rwandan film series and peregrinated to Antarctica, where she filmed her next film, Ice People
Ice people
Ice People is a documentary film directed by Anne Aghion about the research of Allan Ashworth and Adam Lewis in Antarctica. Produced by Dry Valleys Productions, this 2008 film portrays the scientists discovering fossils from 13.9 million years ago...
,. In the Ice People, she filmed the lives of geologist
Geologist
A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth as well as the processes and history that has shaped it. Geologists usually engage in studying geology. Geologists, studying more of an applied science than a theoretical one, must approach Geology using...
s and North Dakota State University
North Dakota State University
North Dakota State University of Agriculture and Applied Sciences, more commonly known as North Dakota State University , is a public university in Fargo, North Dakota. NDSU has about 14,000 students and it is the largest university in North Dakota based on full time students and land size...
professors Allan Ashworth and Adam Lewis and the McMurdo Station
McMurdo Station
McMurdo Station is a U.S. Antarctic research center located on the southern tip of Ross Island, which is in the New Zealand-claimed Ross Dependency on the shore of McMurdo Sound in Antarctica. It is operated by the United States through the United States Antarctic Program, a branch of the National...
staff over four months. The scientists, accompanied by two undergraduate students, researched fossils of ancient specimens as they sought to uncover the climatic evolution of the world's coldest continent. The film premiered at the San Francisco International Film Festival
San Francisco International Film Festival
San Francisco International Film Festival is the oldest continuously running film festival in the Americas. Organized by the San Francisco Film Society, the International is held each spring for two weeks, presenting an average of 150 films from over 50 countries...
in April 2008 and was screened at the Jerusalem Film Festival
Jerusalem Film Festival
The Jerusalem Film Festival is an international film festival held annually in Jerusalem, Israel. The festival was the brainchild of Lia van Leer, who inaugurated it on May 17, 1984...
in July 2008.
Biography and early career
Anne Aghion splits her time between residences in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
.
Before becoming a filmmaker, Aghion held various posts at The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
Paris bureau and the International Herald Tribune
International Herald Tribune
The International Herald Tribune is a widely read English language international newspaper. It combines the resources of its own correspondents with those of The New York Times and is printed at 38 sites throughout the world, for sale in more than 160 countries and territories...
. Prior to her debut as director and producer of her own films, she worked as a videographer, as well as production and post-production manager.
Aghion earned a Bachelor of Arts Magna Cum Laude in Arab Language
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
and Literature from Barnard College
Barnard College
Barnard College is a private women's liberal arts college and a member of the Seven Sisters. Founded in 1889, Barnard has been affiliated with Columbia University since 1900. The campus stretches along Broadway between 116th and 120th Streets in the Morningside Heights neighborhood in the borough...
at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
in New York, and following her studies, lived in Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
, Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
for two years.
Awards
Anne Aghion won an Emmy AwardEmmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
in 2005 for her feature documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
In Rwanda We Say…The Family That Does Not Speak Dies
In Rwanda We Say…The Family That Does Not Speak Dies
In Rwanda We Say…The Family That Does Not Speak Dies is a documentary film examining the Gacaca justice process in the aftermath of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide...
and a UNESCO
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
Fellini Prize for Gacaca, Living Together Again In Rwanda?
Gacaca, Living Together Again In Rwanda?
Gacaca, Living Together Again In Rwanda? is the first documentary film in a by Anne Aghion examining the aftermath of the Rwandan Genocide. Directed by Anne Aghion and produced by Dominant 7, Gacaca Productions, and Planète, this 2002 film won UNESCO's Fellini Prize. Filmed in Rwanda, the...
. In 1996, her first documentary Se le movió el piso: A portrait of Managua
Se le movió el piso: A portrait of Managua
Se le movió el piso: A portrait of Managua is a documentary film by Anne Aghion about how the people in Managua, Nicaragua survived an assortment of disasters occurring in their city. Directed by Anne Aghion and produced by Chaz Productions, this 1996 film won the Coral Award for "Best Non-Latin...
won the Coral Award for "Best Non-Latin American Documentary on Latin America" at the Havana Film Festival
Havana Film Festival
The Havana Film Festival is a Cuban festival that focuses on the promotion of Spanish-language filmmakers. It is also known in Spanish as Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano de La Habana, and in English as Festival of New Latinamerican Cinema of La Havana.The festival takes place...
in Havana
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
, Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
. Aghion is also a recipient of the prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are American grants that have been awarded annually since 1925 by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts." Each year, the foundation makes...
and has received significant praise for her work.
My Neighbor My Killer was screened at the 2009 Human Rights Watch International Film Festival at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood of New York City's Upper West Side. Reynold Levy has been its president since 2002.-History and facilities:...
in New York where Anne Aghion received the Néstor Almendros Award (named for the Oscar-winning Néstor Almendros
Néstor Almendros
Néstor Almendros, ASC was an Oscar winning Spanish cinematographer. One of the highest appraised contemporary cinematographers, "Almendros was an artist of deep integrity, who believed the most beautiful light was natural light...he will always be remembered as a cinematographer of absolute...
) for courage in filmmaking.
Filmography
- Se le movió el piso: A portrait of ManaguaSe le movió el piso: A portrait of ManaguaSe le movió el piso: A portrait of Managua is a documentary film by Anne Aghion about how the people in Managua, Nicaragua survived an assortment of disasters occurring in their city. Directed by Anne Aghion and produced by Chaz Productions, this 1996 film won the Coral Award for "Best Non-Latin...
(1995) - Gacaca, Living Together Again In Rwanda?Gacaca, Living Together Again In Rwanda?Gacaca, Living Together Again In Rwanda? is the first documentary film in a by Anne Aghion examining the aftermath of the Rwandan Genocide. Directed by Anne Aghion and produced by Dominant 7, Gacaca Productions, and Planète, this 2002 film won UNESCO's Fellini Prize. Filmed in Rwanda, the...
(2002) - In Rwanda We Say…The Family That Does Not Speak DiesIn Rwanda We Say…The Family That Does Not Speak DiesIn Rwanda We Say…The Family That Does Not Speak Dies is a documentary film examining the Gacaca justice process in the aftermath of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide...
(2004) - Ice PeopleIce peopleIce People is a documentary film directed by Anne Aghion about the research of Allan Ashworth and Adam Lewis in Antarctica. Produced by Dry Valleys Productions, this 2008 film portrays the scientists discovering fossils from 13.9 million years ago...
(2008) - The Notebooks of MemoryThe Notebooks of MemoryThe Notebooks of Memory is the third documentary film in a by Anne Aghion examining the aftermath of the Rwandan Genocide.-Plot:Anne Aghion's third film in her Rwanda series concentrates on the local citizen-judges' tribunals, where they must weigh survivor accounts of the genocide massacres...
(2009) - My Neighbor, My KillerMy Neighbor, My KillerMy Neighbor, My Killer is a 2009 French-American documentary film directed by Anne Aghion. It was given a special screening at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival and recently received Human Rights Watch's Nestor Almendros Prize for courage in filmmaking....
(2009)
External links
- Official website
- Anne Aghion at VH1VH1VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
- Biography of Anne Aghion at The Women's College Coalition