Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff
Published: Tuesday, March 8th, 2016
New York (TADIAS) — Three recent films from Ethiopia will be screened at the 2016 New African Film Festival, taking place from March 11th to 18th at AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in Silver Spring, Maryland.
“This year’s festival showcases the vibrancy of African filmmaking from all corners of the continent,” organizers said in a press release. The Ethiopian movies include Yared Zeleke’s award-winning debut drama Lamb, Hermon Hailay’s Price of Love, and Miguel Llansó’s sci-fi Crumbs.
LAMB (2015)
Opening Date: Friday, March 11, 7:15 with post-screening reception from Abol Ethiopian Cuisine. (Also screening Sun, Mar 13, 4:45)
Lamb tells the story of an Ethiopian boy, Ephraïm, who bonds with a sheep as he is sent away from home following the death of his mother. Ephraïm soon learns that the sheep he befriended may have to be sacrificed for a feast and plots a way both to save the lamb and find his way home again. Lamb is the first Ethiopian film to be an official selection at the Cannes Film Festival and won ‘Best Feature Film’ at the 2015 Milano Film Festival.
PRICE OF LOVE
Sat, Mar 12, 7:15; Wed, Mar 16, 7:15
Price of Love won the Special Prize at the 2015 Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou, Best Screenplay at the 2015 Africa International Film Festival as well as the Bi Kidude Award (Chairman’s Award) at the 2015 Zanzibar Film Festival. Silver Spring Downtown publication describes Price of Love as a film where “one of the leading female filmmakers from Ethiopia, Hermon Hailay, examines tough social issues with great finesse in this gripping contemporary drama.”
CRUMBS
Tue, Mar 15, 9:30; Thu, Mar 17, 5:15
Crumbs, which is being hailed as Ethiopia’s first “post-apocalyptic sci-fi romance” is a film by Addis Ababa-based Spanish writer and director Miguel Llanso. The Hollywood Reporter noted that the 68-minute movie makes “potent use of spectacularly extraterrestrial locations in the country’s sunbaked far north town of Dallol; the film takes an exotic and sometimes surreal approach to what’s essentially a simple, touching love story.” Crumbs was an Official Selection of the 2015 Los Angeles Film Festival and International Film Festival of Rotterdam.