Synopsis

The Polish ornithologist Anna Keller researches the bird life of Rwanda in 1994 together with a well-known Rwandan colleague. When he is killed in the Tutsi genocide, Anna helps his daughter Claudine to escape to Poland. The researcher herself was a witness to the atrocities and is profoundly shocked. Even when she is back home, she can still not forget the terrible images. The brutality she has experienced makes it almost impossible for her to accept the slow and comfortable flow of life in Poland. Above all, she cannot and will not accept the people’s indifference to the events in the African country. Anna has the urge to change her life radically and to flee the shadows of the terrible past. Unfortunately, Claudine’s presence makes it impossible for her to realise this desire. Deeply traumatised, both women ultimately embark on a complex and intense process of healing to restore their daily lives. Many films have been made about the genocide in Rwanda, and there are great films about the role of women in the modern world as well. But the merger of these two important topics has probably never been as disturbing and conclusive as in Birds Are Singing in Kigali.