Programme Details

Nearly a million people were murdered in Rwanda in 1994, and now film-makers are queuing up to tell the story. A new Oscar-nominated docu-drama Hotel Rwanda opens in the UK next week, and more are in the pipeline, including documentaries focusing on the testimonies of survivors. But why are film-makers turning to this subject now? In this evening's Night Waves, BBC reporter George Alagiah describes to Paul Allen what it was like reporting from the country during the genocide, and how films can contribute to the country's healing process; and Rwandan film-maker Eric Kabera - who lost 32 members of his own family - gives his own personal account of talking to survivors of the 100-day slaughter.

Hollywood and its output lie at the heart of a new book The Whole Equation by the San Francisco-based film writer David Thomson. This evening he gives his own thoughts on how the history of America is so intertwined with the history of Hollywood, never more so than now, as George W Bush continues to base his image and many of his phrases on the Hollywood tradition. Thomson traces the development of the industry and the challenges it has faced from its very beginnings to the present day, and considers what state the industry is likely to be in in twenty years' time.

A major new literary prize announces its first list of contenders today. The Man Booker International Prize extends the scope of the Booker Prize for fiction, recognising one living author for his or her achievement in fiction originally in English, or generally available in translation in the English language. But do we need another literary prize? Or is this an overdue acknowledgement of the importance of global literature?

And as a new initiative gets underway in which school children and pupils work alongside architects to design their own schools, outdoor environments, and even uniforms, Joe Kerr wonders where this might all lead.

Join Paul Allen for Night Waves at 9.30pm.





Presenter: Paul Allen
Producer: Jerome Weatherald



Additional Details:

The Whole Equation: A History of Hollywood by David Thomson is published by Little, Brown

Hotel Rwanda opens in the UK on Friday 25th Feb, cert 12A www.mgm.com/ua/hotelrwanda/

For further details of the Man Booker International Prize, visit http://www.manbookerinternational.com/

The exhibition of Joinedupdesignforschools opens at the V&A in London on 21st Feb. For details, visit http://www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/future_exhibs/joinedup/