The independent filmmaker
Haile Gerima
Haile
Gerima is an Ethiopian independent filmmaker based in the United States. He
went to the US in 1968 to study acting and directing at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, Illinois. He was later transferred
to the Theatre Department at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
where he completed the Masters Program in Film.
He then
relocated to Washington, D.C. to teach at the Howard University's Department of
Radio, Television and Film where he influenced young filmmakers for over
twenty-five years. Inspired by UCLA classmate and filmmaker Charles Burnett and
by the celebrated African-American poet and educator Sterling Brown, Haile's films
are noted for their exploration of the issues and history pertinent to the
African Diaspora. Often corrective of Hollywood versions of slave stories, his
films comment on the physical, cultural and psychological dislocation of black
peoples during and after slavery.
Haile’s
narratives are told from the perspective of an African and of the African
Diaspora, rather than being sanitized and misinterpreted by more commercially
oriented filmmakers. His unique film-making style is coupled with a personal
mission to correct long-held misconceptions about black peoples' varied
histories throughout the world. For this reason, colleagues and students alike
regard him to be a master teacher in the classroom and behind the camera.
Haile
Gerima directed, produced, wrote and edited a total of eleven films including
his 1972 Child of Resistance, his 1976 Bush
Mama and his 1994 Imperfect
Journey. But Haile’s best-known film, many say, is Sankofa – which is about slavery and was
produced in 1993. Released in 1999, another one of Haile’s breakthrough films
isAdwa – a documentary about the Battle of Adwa in which Ethiopians defeated the Italian
colonial force.
In March
2009, Haile Gerima’s film, Teza, about Ethiopia’s former
dictatorial regime won the Golden Stallion of Yennenga – Africa’s equivalent of the Oscars – at the continent’s main movie awards
ceremony in Burkina Faso.
Teza portrays the story of a German educated Ethiopian
scientist who goes back to his homeland under the regime of Mengistu
Hailemariam. It was made to show what life was like under Mengistu, who ruled
the country from 1974 to 91. The film discusses the issues of dictatorship,
emigration, war and the position of women in the Ethiopian society during the
Mengistu regime. It premiered on the big-screen in Ethiopia on 3 January 2009
and is reported to have been a great success in terms of audience numbers.
Haile's
films are more about education than entertainment, and substance than style. He
is perhaps one of very few Ethiopians to have made it to the international
film-making industry as a director, producer, writer and editor.
The
Ethiopian film industry is in its very infancy, but it has grown so much in a
very short period of time – and the pace of its growth is simply remarkable.
There can be little doubt that many of the big players who are driving the
Ethiopian film industry currently have drawn inspiration from the works of
Haile Gerima and have followed his lead to tell the many aspects of Ethiopian
stories using the medium of film.
አስተያየቶች
አስተያየት ይለጥፉ