Ten years after the bloody genocide that killed an estimated 800,000 people in just 100 days, Rwanda’s women are leading their country’s healing process and taking their society forward into a different future. They are playing a remarkable role in politics and are also emerging as prominent figures in the business sector. In spring 2004 — as Rwanda commemorated the 10th anniversary of the genocide — WIDE ANGLE traveled to this fractured nation to make a film that looks forward instead of back. Profiling women on the forefront of change, “Ladies First” reveals the challenges facing them and their country as Rwanda struggles to build a sustainable peace between the majority Hutus and minority Tutsis — a peace that has eluded the country for almost half a century.