This year, as the world remembers the 25th anniversary of Rwanda’s genocide and honors one million people who were killed in 100 days, GroundTruth Films is preparing special coverage of an inspiring story of healing, forgiveness and reconciliation. This is a sneak peek at our upcoming short film, Finding Humanity, and the feature-length film, Camera Kids, that will follow.

Orphaned by the genocide in 1994, GroundTruth Film Fellows Gadi Habumugisha, Mussa Uwitonze, and Bizimana Jean – the original “camera kids” – were given the opportunity to learn photography in the orphanage where they were raised.

Mentored by the nonprofit Through the Eyes of Children between the ages of 8 to 19, the three young men are now leading that organization in a global mission to create a new generation of “camera kids” by teaching photography to other vulnerable children – from Syrian and Afghan refugees in the Middle East to foster children in America.

As they travel the world giving kids the skills they need to share their own stories, home in Rwanda they are trying to come to terms with their own childhood trauma. Is it possible to understand the roots of the genocide that made them orphans? To answer that question, Gadi, Mussa and Bizimana trekked through villages across northern Rwanda to meet, interview and photograph genocide perpetrators, their families, and their victims.

This journey was the focus of our filming in Rwanda this month and what emerged is a stunning portrait of humanity lost, humanity found.