CACrown ArchivesThe cinema collection
Menu
Research dossier · Arts & Letters

A Sunday in Kigali

2006 film by Robert Favreau

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 12, 2026
Entity authorityQ300575
Source-derived summary

A Sunday in Kigali (original French title: Un dimanche à Kigali) is a 2006 Canadian feature film set during the Rwandan genocide. It is directed by Robert Favreau and based on the novel A Sunday at the Pool in Kigali by Gil Courtemanche.

Plot

Bernard Valcourt, a documentary filmmaker and journalist, sets off to Kigali to film a documentary about AIDS. He gets caught up in the turmoil of horrific events involving Hutus and Tutsis that tragically leads to genocide. During his stay at the Hôtel des Mille Collines, Valcourt falls in love with a beautiful, shy waitress named Gentille. Gentille serves drinks to the diplomats, officials, and Rwandan bourgeoisie who surround the hotel swimming pool every Sunday. While Valcourt's longing for Gentille increases, the country moves towards civil war, and the brutal violence of the Rwandan genocide separates them. A few months go by and Bernard returns to Rwanda, frantically seeking Gentille in the midst of the chaos. Most of the narrative unfolds in retrospect.

Release

A Sunday in Kigali grossed $1.1 million Canadian in Quebec in the fall of 2006, and was set for a 2006 September 23 release in English-speaking Canada.

Cast

Luc Picard as Bernard Valcourt

Fatou N'Diaye as Gentille

Vincent Bilodeau as Father Cardinal

Céline Bonnier as Élise

Geneviève Brouillette as Consule

Alice Isimbi

Fayolle Jean as Victor

Maka Kotto as Manu

Louise Laparé as Manu's Wife

Alexis Martin as Lamarre

Luck Mervil as Raphaël

Mireille Métellus as Agathe

Luc Proulx as Father Louis

Guy Thauvette as Lt.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “A Sunday in Kigali” as 2006 film by Robert Favreau. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Sunday, Kigali and film.

Editorial reviewA productive route into publication, performance and collection histories when the underlying object or edition remains clearly identified. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2006—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 2006-01-01. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Sunday, Kigali and film providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “A Sunday in Kigali”, the useful work is to connect “2006 film by Robert Favreau” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q300575. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2006.

Critical limits

Rights, attribution and provenance may remain disputed even when a general reference summary presents a stable account. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “A Sunday in Kigali”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow A Sunday in Kigali primary sources, A Sunday in Kigali archive and Sunday research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “A Sunday in Kigali”?
  2. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
  3. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
Subject index

Search terms from this dossier

Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from A Sunday in Kigali” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.