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Francois Byamana

   
 
 
Francois Byamana

EXPERIENCE

FILM

2012 We Feel Fine  - Short Film - dir/screenplay: Jeremy Dumble, Adam Luxton - ch: Frank
2011 The Last Strike - Lead
2009 Amadi - Short Film - dir: Zia Mandviwalla - ch: Amadi (lead)

TV

2010,11,12 Spartacus - Pacific Renaissance Spartacus 

LIVE PERFORMANCE

2011 The Light Supper - Musician/Story Teller
2011 Mix It Workshop Performance - Acting/Circus

MUSIC
2011 African Friends for Christchurch - Musician 
Solo Guitarist

THEATRE
2011, 2013 A Thousand Hills - Lead & Playwright
2010 A Thousand Hills play reading, director Margaret-Mary Hollins
2009 His Excellency In Love - Maidment Theatre - ch: Dictator
2006-2010 Mix It Drama, Circus Summer Project
 

CATEGORIES

Actor Entertainer Singer Talent
   

SKILLS

Accents > Other
Entertainers > Other
Languages > French
Specialists > Singer Other

OTHER SKILLS

When Francois Byamana says acting saved his life, he's not exaggerating. A split-second decision to pretend to be from somewhere else, and affect a Zairian accent, very likely kept him alive when, in 1994, his native Rwanda exploded into a bloody genocide.

Then aged 20 and preparing to study journalism at university, Byamana, who speaks five languages, used his linguistic skills to talk his way out of Rwanda into the refugee camps of Zaire.

Able to act as an interpreter, he became a valued assistant to a number of aid workers, including New Zealand's Bob Askew. Working for the Red Cross in two crowded camps, Askew, an environmental health officer, was charged with the near-impossible task of getting fresh water supplies to the thousands fleeing the genocide and seeking safety in the camps.

After years spent moving around refugee camps, often in grave danger, Byamana was able, through Askew and other Kiwi contacts, to obtain refugee status and settle in New Zealand. He's been here for 12 years now and is a "Kiwi Rwandan".

Extract from Theatre Preview by Dionne Christian link

  27/07/1974  
HEIGHT  170   SHOE  9   SIZE  Small   WAIST  81   CHEST  85   HIPS   


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