Above: Yared’s winning short film depicts a childhood game,
familiar to many Ethiopians, in which two boys take turns
throwing rocks. Shown at left: Ambassador Donald Booth.
Tadias Magazine
Arts News
Updated: Friday, June 25, 2010
New York (Tadias) – Ethiopian Filmmaker Yared Shumete Desalegne has been named the Grand Finalist for Africa in the 2010 Democracy Video Challenge for his original short video, “Democracy is Fair Play.”
Yared’s film depicts a childhood game, familiar to many Ethiopians, in which two boys take turns throwing rocks. If the first boy’s rock is hit by the rock of the second boy, the second is entitled to ride on the back of the first boy, who has to run all the way to where the rocks landed. They throw their rocks again, and switch places whenever one boy’s rock hits the rock of the other. In less than three minutes, Yared’s video illustrates the democratic principle of fair play, according to well-understood rules. Yared told the Ambassador, “I hope Ethiopians will watch my video and vote for it on YouTube. We Ethiopian filmmakers don’t always have the training we need, so we learn by making mistakes. The Democracy Video Challenge encouraged us to try out our ideas and learn by doing.”
Watch Video: Democracy is fair play by Yared Shumete
Source: U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa
Related:
Ethiopia Hosts International Film Festival
Above: The critically acclaimed film “Desert Flower”, featuring
supermodel Liya Kebede was screened at the 2010 Ethiopia
International Film Festival —- held June 14-June 19, 2010.
Tadias Magazine
Events News
Updated: Friday, June 25, 2010
New York (Tadias) – Ethiopia played host to an international film festival, the first of its kind to be staged in East Africa.
According to African Press Agency, the festival – which took place in Addis Ababa from June 14 to 19, 2010 – featured 100 short films from various countries.
The five-day gathering – which was inaugurated by President Girma Woldegiorgisse – “aims at encouraging the use of film as a personal, social and economic tool for development; boosting production of short films internationally, in particular the African continent – in the context of unprecedented growth of the African broadcasting area,” said the organizers.
The festival was staged only days after three Ethiopian films won coveted awards at the 7th African Film Festival in Tarifa, Spain, including in the short-film category.
Among the movies shown at the festival include Liya Kebede’s ‘Desert Flower’, a movie based on the true story of a former African supermodel who rose from a nomadic life to the top of the international modeling business.
Watch the Trailer Here
Video: Desert Flower Movie Trailer – English