World Premier of Shooting Dogs in Kigali Stadium

There are two things that can go wrong, things that are within your control and things that are outside your control.  When we were informed that we had won the contract to show the World Premiere for the film Shooting Dogs in a stadium in Kigali, Rwanda, we were naturally worried because if something goes wrong, it may be impossible to rectify it unless you plan methodically.

We took spare lenses, more cables than we needed, spare blowers, spare DVD players, a tent in the unlikely event of rain and lots of connectors.  We made sure that the stadium had a serviceable sound system as well as power and backup generators.

We left London Heathrow at 7:00am on Saturday morning and arrived at Kigali, (having stopped off at Brussels and Nairobi) at 12:00 Midnight only to find that the case with some of the cables, lenses and tent was going around a carousel at Brussels airport.  I quickly learned the phrase "It is of vital, national importance that we get this case back"  Only to be informed that there were no flights on Sunday, and the nearest I could expect it back would be sometime on Monday.  As the screening was due on Monday, I had no choice except to assume that the case wasn't coming back.

Sunday.  Technical rehearsal, luckily I'd seen fit to pack some cables and lens in other cases and we had a successful technical rehearsal in the blazing sun with little wind.   At 12:00, we got a call from Kigali airport to inform us that the case was now there (I guess the phrase worked).  So I hopped in a car, picked up the case, dashed back to the stadium with all of the right equipment and re-arranged everything the way I had planned.  My stress levels started calming down nicely.

Monday, Movie Day.  I went shopping for torches and extension cables in Kigali town centre for the evenings showing.  At 2:00pm we made our way to the stadium, and walked through the lobby.  There was a show of some sort going on in the lobby for the Minister of Culture, and I noticed our Projector Stand and our long extension cable was being used.  The long extension cable was the one that powered the blowers for the 3 story high inflatable screen.  I was then informed that they would only be using it for one hour.  So we waited, looking at the deflated screen in the middle of the stadium.  Then, the rain started.

We had been informed, that if it rains, it would only be for one hour in the afternoon, so we waited, and waited.  After one hour the rain had abated slightly.  With a full compliment of equipment we sprinted across the pitch to attempt to put up the screen.  Inflatable screens aren't the easiest things to erect.  They have constant powered blowers, and have to be manoeuvred to allow air into all the crevices.  When they are wet, they are also very heavy and are a lot more difficult to erect.  By this time, they had allowed people to start coming into the stadium, these were mostly native Kigali's, most who had been survivors of the genocide.  It took us about one hour to finally get the screen up, after which I made sure that the stadium switch on the backup generators.

With the screen staked down, and inflated, the rain started again in torrents, with an anxious David Belton (The producer) enquiring if we can still show the movie in the rain, to which I replied that we can as long as the screen stays up, it would be no problem.  By this time heavy winds were turning the screen into a very effective sail.  Almost at that moment, the screen started to dramatically deflate.

I ran across the pitch with the Rwandan chap who was helping me to run to the blowers (believing it to possibly be cause by water getting into the electrics) until he informed me that it was due to a power cut in the stadium as he pointed at the lights that had gone off in the control room.  It was at that moment that the stadium management decided that it may be wise to switch on the generators.  The screen by this time was sodden, and we tried to erect it amidst the mud, the gales and the downpour.  But to no avail.  A Dutch camera crew were capturing the events, and the 2000 strong audience in the stands seemed to think that we were the warm up act, leaning and sighing every time the screen lurched to the left or to the right, applauding when things were going well, and praying when not so well.

It was at this point that we had to abandon the erection of the screen and look at alternatives.  While I was speccing out a nearby, covered basketball stadium, the rain abated.  I ran with all my might, along with several helpers to attempt, one last time to raise the soaking wet screen.  Even the English PR man Toby in his white suit was hauling on one of the ropes as if he was sailing a yacht.  This encouraged other white suited men including David Lorraine who had just come to watch the film, to splash across the field and help raise the screen.  Slowly, but surely the top of the screen lifted and we walked back along the pitch to rapturous applause from the audience.

I will never forget the experience of sitting in the tent with a local assistant and a projector, watching a movie about the genocide through the raindrops, in a country where only ten years ago this was actually happening.  Despite being soaking wet, with bleeding hands, I felt that we had achieved the near impossible that day, and was thankful that I had been a part of such a historical event.

AV2Hire were hailed as heroes that night, and we joined in a toast from the director and the cast of the movie.