Photo: Tunisian culture minister Abderraouf Basti (R)
and Ethiopian director Haile Gerima are pictured with
the Tanit d’or trophy for Gerima’s film “Teza” at the
22nd Carthage International Film Festival (JCC) on
November 1, 2008 in Tunis’ municipal theater. “Teza”
scooped four main awards at Africa’s Carthage Film
Festival Saturday, including the coveted Golden Tanit
for its “modesty and genius.
“(AFP/File/Fethi Belaid)
TUNIS (AFP) – Ethiopian film “Teza” scooped four main awards at Africa’s Carthage Film Festival Saturday, including the coveted Golden Tanit for its “modesty and genius.”
The film by Haile Gerima bagged the top prize on the last day of the festival in Tunisia, beating the Palestinian film “Leila’s Birthday” and Tunisia’s entry “Khamsa” to second and third place respectively.
“Teza” tells the story of 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. Read more at Yahoo News.
Dear Tadias,
Congratulations to Gashe Haile! I suggest that we (Tadias and friends of Tadias) organize a film festival in Harlem to show and discuss Professor Haile’s films, preferably in summer 2009 or fall 2009. Gashe Haile uses film to advance the cause of Africa, Global Africa. Gashe Haile is also an intellectual who understood the importance of linking tradition with modernization. Teza, even the title, suggests that great Ethiopian literary tradition qene and semena worq. The title reminds of my childhood. I was exposed to that cold and wet grassland (Teza) while walking to school in the morning barefooted. By late afternoon, Teza is gone and the field was a source of joy, for we played yecherq quas on it!
I have not seen the film yet, and yet the title, like his great epic film Sankofa, which I have seen several times, make me think!
Hi Ayele,
Please contact me at umimig@hotmail.com regarding a screening of Teza in NYC.
mimi
It is up lifting to see our history and heritage in a good light. Recently the half cooked with unknown identity who occupied Ethiopian political power have been chipping and cheapening our history and sovereignty systematically.
It is a good lesson for one and all, knowing what the Europeans did to out country many time over, it is our responsibility to defend our country from the new onslaught disguised as nation and nationality similar to the fascist.
Tadias thank you, it is good of you to keep the candle burning.
An Ethiopian filmmaker who use his talent effectively and reflect the picture of African diaspora to turn their heads back so that they try to restore their humanity and an expression of pan Africanism in the contemporary language with an extraordinary linguistic competence and aesthetic excellence for a pent up passion. He is a prolific filmmaker and a seminal figure the country needs.
Thanks gash Haile
Haimanot Wassie Akalu
AAU