Category: Movies

Ethiopian Women Filmmakers Tell Their Stories

Documentary filmmaking holds a special place in the history of African women’s cinema. In 1972, Senegalese filmmaker Safi Faye became the first sub-Saharan African woman to make a commercially distributed feature film when she directed “Kaddu Beykat”. The film, a mixture of fiction and documentary, depicts the economic problems suffered by Senegalese village farmers because… Read more

Zeraf: cultural clash, outrageous acts and acceptance

What happens when an overaggressive, politically incorrect, prejudiced father with a special dislike for people from China, to the point that he refuses to use Chinese product, meets his future Chinese son in law? Issues of Cultural clashes take center stage in ‘Zeraf’ staring Shewaferaw Desalegn, Mekdes Tsegaye, and Lan Zhi. The conflict centers on… Read more

Oblivion: a film based on a true story

About this project ** All donations are TAX-DEDUCTIBLE through Truth Aid. Truth Aid is a nonprofit social venture that produces media to raise awareness about important social issues. ** We have raised 60% of our budget to date. We now need to raise the remaining $150,000, but our goal is to raise $30,000 through this… Read more

Ethiopian filmmaker to collaborate with Hollywood company

Ethiopian filmmaker Zelalem Woldemariam has won Focus Features’ Africa’s first program grant. Focus Features, a renowned, giant Hollywood company, is well known for producing films like The Pianist, Broke Back Mountain, Lost in Translation and Motorcycle Diaries. Focus Features created Africa’s first short film program to help promising up-and-coming filmmakers from Africa through financial support.… Read more

Shewaferaw Desalgen’s new film “Sewyew” Premiers

The renowned actor Shewaferaw Desalgen’s new film “Sewyew” (The Man) premiered at the Addis Ababa Culture and Theater Hall last Monday. The new film, involving some 110 cast and crew members, is a suspense story on an Ethiopian family. The 95-minute-long film took a year to make and was written, acted and directed by Shewaferaw… Read more

An Ethiopian Love

A Yonie Media Group Film – A 23-year old Americanized Ethiopian named Desta, played by Yonie Solomon, is inspired to discover the realities of his roots by travelling to Ethiopia. This riveting romantic comedy explores the complexities of relationships between friends and two different cultures. ‘AN ETHIOPIAN LOVE’ Feature Film- Written and Directed by Yonie… Read more

Talking of Hiroshima

Hiroshima, one of a handful of Ethiopian films to be shot with a Red One camera, premiered recently in Addis Ababa on the heels of a Herculean promotional campaign. The film, written and directed by its main star, Serawit Fikre, featured several renowned actors: Abebe Balcha, Michael Tamere, Mulualem Tadesse, Meseret Mebrate, and others. Cinema… Read more

Pirates on Main Street

Siraj Meka, 22, works on the cobblestone parking lot outside Novis Supermarket on Africa Avenue (Bole Road). Under each arm rests a bundle of pirated CDs and DVDs packaged in envelope sized clear plastic. They total around 50. On the cover, each package bears the bright, lively image of a film poster of a recent… Read more

Hollywood Premiere for Local Film Pendulum

Sunday, March 13, 2011, was an unusually busy afternoon for the security guards at the Millennium Hall gates as they tried to push back hundreds of people trying to enter the hall in time to grab a front row seat for the much publicised Pendulum, a local Amharic film. The gates around the hall had… Read more

A mirage of smooth sounds – Acacia Jazz Festival

By Henry Guyer In the bright and arduous afternoon sun, the crowd was happy to sit on the lush grass space facing the stage. As the night began to obscure the light and the temperature dropped, the energy level quickly rose and dancing and jubilation extended into the rest of the night. The unyielding heat,… Read more

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