Coexist: A Documentary

What is Coexist?

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When hate persists, how will you coexist?

The documentary film, Coexist tells the stories of trauma survivors searching for ways to coexist with their loved ones’ murderers. As killing continues in Rwanda today and the government forces citizens to consider reconciliation, we examine the varied paths survivors choose when forced to face enemies and former enemies every day. In a world where innocent people are regularly attacked or killed because of who they are, we challenge you: how can Rwandans experiences inform efforts to build peaceful coexistence, eliminate hate crimes, and prevent all types of violence?

Living with Killers

In the documentary film, Coexist, women who survived the Rwandan genocide in 1994 share their inner most feelings on confronting killers and having little choice but to interact with them daily, as they cope with the long lasting trauma of losing their families. Coexist asks, what can you learn from the experience of victims of horrific crimes trying to rehumanize their loved ones’ killers?

Killing Continues Today

The politics and emotions are complicated, the facts are stark: murderers continue to kill genocide survivors to keep them from testifying in genocide trials. You will hear from women who survived the genocide and are mourning murdered relatives once again, due to continuing acts of genocide designed to intimidate and exterminate people because of their identities. How they feel about coexisting with killers is stunning.

A Precarious Experiment

We examine Rwanda’s precarious and sensitive experiment in building reconciliation in varied settings across the country. The government strongly urges killers and survivors to come together in workshops, seminars, and healing groups where they’re often asked to confront each other and share their feelings. In Coexist, we explore if these emotionally explosive interactions can build peaceful coexistence and begin the process of rehumanization, where each individual can begin see the other as human again. See our Survival Stories section to find out more about women you’ll see in our film.

What Can You Learn?

What can you learn from these bold efforts to rebuild a broken society in this personal, painful, and direct way? What are the implications on our relationships, communities, and the world?  How do you live side by side with people who killed your loved ones?

Get Involved

As we work to complete our film, currently in post-production, we encourage you to join the conversation here on our site. Post your comments, check out the interactive page Coexistence is…, connect with us on facebook and check out more ways you can help.