To raise funds for the first all-African Tour de France team, the inspiring documentary Rising From Ashes, which tells the story of Team Rwanda, screens at Sci-Bono Discovery Centre in Newtown, Johannesburg on Thursday 27 February at 18h30.
Team Rwanda was established in 2006 by American cycling legend Jacques “Jock’ Boyer.
Six years in the making and narrated by Oscar-winner Forest Whitaker, Rising From Ashes has won awards at more than a dozen film festivals worldwide.
Top cyclist Boyer moved to Rwanda to help survivors of the 1994 genocide pursue their dream of creating a national cycling team, which is now going from strength to strength.
Rwandan star rider Adrien Niyonshuti lost six of his brothers during the genocide. At the 2012 Olympics in London, 18 years after the massacre, Niyonshuti became the first black African to complete a mountain bike race in Olympic history.
In 2013, Team Rwanda started assisting countries such as Ethiopia and Eritrea with smaller equipment needs and technical support.
With a focus on training cyclists for the 2016 Rio Olympics and beyond, Team Rwanda now have a formal agreement with the cycling federations of Eritrea and Ethiopia to develop and supply their cycling programmes.
The next phase for Team Rwanda is the development of Africa’s first all-African team to participate in the Tour de France: the greatest cycling event in the world.
Rising From Ashes, directed by TC Johnstone, is described as a tale of “redemption, hope and second chances in a country that, like South Africa, is still recovering from its past and in desperate need of new heroes’.
Tickets for the fundraiser are on sale for R200 each, with all proceeds going towards building cycling talent in Africa through Team Rwanda.
For more information, visit: https://risingfromashesthemovie.com, and follow @TRwandaCycling on Twitter.
Watch the trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXfq0DxS4KM.
