Ethiopians to enjoy “New Black Cinema” (Teza) in a week’s time
APA: Addis Ababa Ethiopia (Dec 27 2008) - Millions of Ethiopians will soon start to enjoy the newly much heralded said film, Teza, which is being described internationally as a “New Black Cinema”, and which has received world wide recognition and several prizes.
Teza (dew), which has already been shown to millions of cinema viewers in North Africa, Europe, Canada and the United States, will premier in Addis Ababa beginning on 3 January 2009, according to its director, Professor Haile Gerima, an Ethiopian based in the United States.
The film was directed by Professor Gerima who has also directed several of the best-known African films.
This new film, which has received more than ten international prizes in 2008, offers an unflinching look at the simmering tension in Ethiopia.
Teza is a story about an Ethiopian doctor at the height of the Cold War who comes back to his country from the West under the Marxist regime of Mengistu Haile Mariam in the 1970s.
The film recently won the special Jury prize and the best screenplay prize at the Venice Film Festival in Italy.
Gerima told journalists in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa Friday that his film took him around 14 years, which will be seen in Ethiopia for the coming one month. However, he said shooting of the film took him eight weeks in Ethiopia and six days in Germany.
Gerima is in Addis Ababa with the film actors, a majority of whom are Ethiopians, to launch the new film, which was also launched in the United States two months ago.
“We don’t have to follow Hollywood. We African have a lot of stories to tell. Hollywood makes so many damaging movies, and Africans are critical of Europeans making films on Africa, but they end up doing the same thing they criticize. But misrepresentation comes from not doing our homework and from not agonizing over a film,” said Gerima.
“If African filmmakers want to bring anything new to their stories, it is under their noses’, their mothers’, their grandmothers, their communities and their villages.”
Haile Gerima, a veteran independent filmmaker and tenured professor at Howard University in United States has been hailed as creating a “New Black Cinema”. His previous films include, ‘After Winter’, ‘Sterling Brown’, ‘Ashes and embers’, ‘Harvest;3000 years’, ‘Bush Mama’, ‘Sankofa’, ‘Adwa’ etc.
This new film, which has received more than ten international prizes in 2008, offers an unflinching look at the simmering tension in Ethiopia.
Teza is a story about an Ethiopian doctor at the height of the Cold War who comes back to his country from the West under the Marxist regime of Mengistu Haile Mariam in the 1970s.
The film recently won the special Jury prize and the best screenplay prize at the Venice Film Festival in Italy.
Gerima told journalists in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa Friday that his film took him around 14 years, which will be seen in Ethiopia for the coming one month. However, he said shooting of the film took him eight weeks in Ethiopia and six days in Germany.
Gerima is in Addis Ababa with the film actors, a majority of whom are Ethiopians, to launch the new film, which was also launched in the United States two months ago.
“We don’t have to follow Hollywood. We African have a lot of stories to tell. Hollywood makes so many damaging movies, and Africans are critical of Europeans making films on Africa, but they end up doing the same thing they criticize. But misrepresentation comes from not doing our homework and from not agonizing over a film,” said Gerima.
“If African filmmakers want to bring anything new to their stories, it is under their noses’, their mothers’, their grandmothers, their communities and their villages.”
Haile Gerima, a veteran independent filmmaker and tenured professor at Howard University in United States has been hailed as creating a “New Black Cinema”. His previous films include, ‘After Winter’, ‘Sterling Brown’, ‘Ashes and embers’, ‘Harvest;3000 years’, ‘Bush Mama’, ‘Sankofa’, ‘Adwa’ etc.
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