Teza

Set in 1970s Ethiopia, "Teza" tells the story of a young Ethiopian as he returns from West Germany a postgraduate. The young Anberber comes back to a country at the height of the ColdWar and under the Marxist regime of Mengistu Haile Mariam. Working in a health institution, he witnesses a brutal murder and finds himself at odds with the revolutionary gangsters running the country. He is ordered by the regime to take up a post in East Germany and uses this opportunity to escape to the West until the Berlin Wall falls and Ethiopia’s military regime is overthrown. Now aged 60, Anberber finally returns to his home village. Although he finds comfort from his ageing mother, he feels alienated from those around him by his absence from home for so long and is disillusioned and haunted by his past.
Screening Schedule

No physical screenings scheduled.
Script: Haile Gerima
Cinematography: Mario Masini
Editing: Haile Gerima, Loren Hankin
Sound: Martin Langenbach
Music: Vijay Iyer, Jorga Mesfin
Actors: Aaron Arefe (Anberber), Abeye Tedla (Tesfaye), Takelech Beyene (Tadfe), Teje Tesfahun (Azanu), Nebiyu Baye (Ayalew), Mengistu Zelalem (Young Amberber), Wuhib Bayu (Abdul)
Production: Pandora FilmProduktion & Negod-gwad Production
Producers: Haile Gerima, Karl Baumgartner
Co-production: Unlimited, Westdeutscher Rundfunk
Art Direction: Patrick Dechesne, Alain- Pascal Housiaux, Seyum Ayana
Costumes: Wassine Hailu
Format: 35mm Color
Production Country: Germany
Production Year: 2008
Duration: 140
Contact: The Match Factory GmbH, GermanyT. +49 22 1539 709-0 F. +49 22 1539 709-10info@matchfactory.dewww.the-match-factory.com

Haile Gerima

He is an independent filmmaker, born in Ethiopia in 1946. He studied at the Goodman School of Drama in Chicago and later at the University of Southern California at Los Angeles (UCLA). Since 1975, he is an Honorary Professor of Film at Howard University in Washington, DC. He is best known as the writer, producer and director of Sankofa, which won many awards and competed for the Golden Bear at the Berlin IFF. In 1976, his film Harvest: 3000 Years,was selected as a Critic’s Choice for screening at the Cannes IFF and won the George Sadoul Award, the Silver Leopard at the Locarno FF and other awards.

Filmography

(Selected)
1976 Bush Mama
1976 Harvest: 3000 Years
1978 Wilmington (doc.)
1982 Ashes and Embers
1985 AfterWinter: Sterling Brown (doc.)
1993 Sankofa
1994 Imperfect Journey (doc.)
1999 Adwa – An African Victory (doc.)
2008 Teza