On the 6 April 1994, it was business as usual at Kigali's luxurious Hotel Milles Collines and for Paul Rusesabagina.

His job as manager of the 4-star hotel was to make sure that all his guests have a stress-free stay. By the day's end, as the country exploded, his life changed too.

Paul Rusesabagina

Now nearly 11 years later, the events that changed Rusesabagina's life and the lives of millions of Rwandans is the subject of the Oscar – nominated film Hotel Rwanda.

Rusesabagina, who was played by American actor Don Cheadle, was responsible for the 700 Tutsis who had congregated at the hotel seeking sanctuary from the horror outside.

Not a single life was lost.

Now with an Oscar nomination for the actor who plays him, what does Paul Rusesabagina make of all the excitement and success surrounding Hotel Rwanda?

"It is a surprise especially to me since in 1994, I never thought that I would survive" he told the BBC's Artbeat programme.



Paul Rusesabagina was part of the film making process from the start. From the initial meeting with the director, Terry George through to the writing of the script and filming on location in South Africa.

In 1994, I never thought that I would survive Paul Rusesabagina

Rusesabagina says this wasn't the first offer he'd had to tell his story.

Since journalists found out about the extraordinary events that happened in the hotel Milles Collines during the period of the genocide, there had been many overtures to get him to tell his story.

He had been approached by documentary-makers and a cable film company, but he said he was not convinced that it would be the right way for the story to reach a wider public. But then he met Hotel Rwanda director, Terry George.

"First of all he rang me and then sent me copies of the films he had made. Then he came to see me in Brussles and invited me to go visit him in Long Island in California" Rusesabagina said. "I stayed with him and told him my story."



In the early days after the blood-letting began, on April 7 1994, the hotel was the assembly point for western expatriates.

It became a magnet for middle-class Tutsis, who hoped the presence of foreigners, might save their lives.

But within the first few days, the expatriates were evacuated, and the Rwandans were forced to rely on their own ingenuity and contacts.

A scene from Hotel Rwanda

Rusesabagina would barter the hotel's stock of wines, cheeses and champagne with the interahamwe rebels so they would leave his guests alone.

For him, the whole process of making a Hollywood film is a million miles away from his experience in Rwanda.

"It’s like Hollywood and hell. You can imagine that the difference between hell and Hollywood is quite big" he told the BBC.

And even though Rusesabagina had become used to telling his story over the years, the horrors of the genocide made it hard to forget.




Nowadays, Paul Rusesabagina spends his time speaking at conferences reminding people that the something similar is going on in the Congo and in Darfur.

What took place in Rwanda, we cannot change it. It’s too late Paul Rusesabagina

"What took place in Rwanda, we cannot change it. It's too late. When the international community turned its back, closed its eyes and ears and didn't want to listen, in 100 days a million people were killed.

"Today it is also happening in Congo; three million people have been killed there. People don’t talk about Burundi anymore, it's been forgotten."

And he dismisses efforts in Sudan's Darfur region as a failure. “It is a shame to mankind, he says.

"The film is a reminder, a wake up call. We want to remind the international community that what we regret today for what happened in Rwanda is still happening in many other parts of the world especially in Africa".

For Paul Rusesabagina, that’s the main message of Hotel Rwanda. "It happened that we allowed genocide to happen, we’re sorry but really how much do we regret?"