We’re excited that you’ve found our site and hope you will continue to check back in the months to come to see our progress!  MAMA RWANDA is a feature documentary about women entrepreneurs in Rwanda by filmmaker Laura Waters Hinson, along with producers Andrea McDaniel and Thomas Hinson.  The film was seed-funded by a generous grant from the SEVEN Fund and was shot in July and August of 2011 in Kigali, Rwanda.  We are currently in post-production and are actively raising funds to complete the movie at this time.  We are also looking to create outreach partnerships with organizations that promote entrepreneurship and enterprise solutions to poverty worldwide.

Our previous film, As We Forgive, won the 2008 student Academy Award for best documentary and was presented to thousands of audiences worldwide, and to millions of viewers via US public television, through an outreach grant from the John Templeton Foundation.  We have also reached more than 50,000 people in Rwanda through the As We Forgive – Rwanda Initiative, our Rwandan-led NGO that uses the power of film to promote forgiveness and reconciliation after genocide in Rwandan public schools, churches and villages nationwide.

Our goal is to conduct a similar outreach campaign and make an even bigger audience impact with MAMA RWANDA once it is complete.  We believe that empowering women across the globe with education, financial investment, and access to networks of influence is one of the keys to solving poverty in developing countries.  Rwanda is a bold example of how investing in women as entrepreneurs can begin to transform families and communities, and ultimately, an entire nation.   To learn more about the story and characters portrayed in the film, please visit our “About the Film” page.