Both intimate and sprawling in its scope and reach, "Teza" is a remarkable portrait of the tortured political and social history that Ethiopia suffered in the last decades of the 20th century.
Waves of torment and pride that gripped the country are vividly captured through the eyes of a man named Anberber (a haunting Aaron Arefe), who is subjected to extremes of elation and devastation. His journey of disillusionment is the very personal exploration of a national psyche as interpreted by filmmaker Haile Gerima.
Remaining very much a cipher in the first few reels, a graying, defeated Anberber has returned to his rural village with scars both physical and psychological. His confusion is ours, but the sorting out begins as he flashes back nearly two decades to his jubilant time as a medical student in Cologne, Germany. As an idealistic socialist, he and his fellow expatriates rejoice when a Soviet-backed military junta overthrows the monarchy of Haile Selassie.
But the grand utopia Anberber and his intellectual countrymen dreamed of has little bearing on reality back in Addis Ababa, where his frustration grows under the increasing brutality of the communist regime. Eager to focus on his career as a research physician, Anberber cannot escape the oppressive contradictions of a society where banners of an unwanted emperor (Selassie) have been replaced by alien ideologues (Marx and Lenin).
Though he struggles to maintain his principles, resistance is futile in the face of a new corruption and the constant threat of violence. Once again expatriated to Germany, this time in the service of the communist East, Anberber faces constant racism and the horror of actual violence. With his mind and philosophy skewed, his search for truth and simplicity guide him back to his impoverished boyhood home.
Though sometimes disjointed and fraught with overly impressionistic flourishes, "Teza" is an impressive undertaking that balances melodrama with realism in depicting the inner life of a complicated character and the historical tenor of a little-known time and place in the world.
Ted Fry: tedfry@hotmail.com
Friday, April 30, 2010
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Liya Kebede lands in Time's '100 Most Influential People' List
Ethiopian supermodel Liya Kebede has been named one of the top 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine which will be released later today, according to WWD.
Liya was born and raised in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. A film director spotted her while she was attending Lycee Guebre Mariam school in Addis Ababa and introduced her to a French modeling agent. After completing her studies, she moved to France to pursue work through a Parisian agency. Liya later relocated to New York City.
Liya's big break came when Tom Ford asked her for an exclusive contract for his Gucci Fall/Winter 2000 fashion show. Liya's popularity in the fashion industry sky-rocketed when she appeared on the cover the May 2002 edition of Paris Vogue which dedicated the entire issue to her.
Liya has been seen on the covers of Italian, Japanese, American, French and Spanish Vogue, V, Flair, i-D and Time's Style & Design. Liya has been featured in ad campaigns including those for Gap, Yves Saint-Laurent, Victoria's Secret, Emanuel Ungaro, Tommy Hilfiger, Revlon, Dolce & Gabbana, Escada and Louis Vuitton. In 2003, Liya was named the newest face of Estée Lauder cosmetics, the first black woman to serve as their representative in the company's 57-year history. Her contract was rumored to be for $3 million dollars.
Source: Liya's Profile Wikipedia
Liya was born and raised in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. A film director spotted her while she was attending Lycee Guebre Mariam school in Addis Ababa and introduced her to a French modeling agent. After completing her studies, she moved to France to pursue work through a Parisian agency. Liya later relocated to New York City.
Liya's big break came when Tom Ford asked her for an exclusive contract for his Gucci Fall/Winter 2000 fashion show. Liya's popularity in the fashion industry sky-rocketed when she appeared on the cover the May 2002 edition of Paris Vogue which dedicated the entire issue to her.
Liya has been seen on the covers of Italian, Japanese, American, French and Spanish Vogue, V, Flair, i-D and Time's Style & Design. Liya has been featured in ad campaigns including those for Gap, Yves Saint-Laurent, Victoria's Secret, Emanuel Ungaro, Tommy Hilfiger, Revlon, Dolce & Gabbana, Escada and Louis Vuitton. In 2003, Liya was named the newest face of Estée Lauder cosmetics, the first black woman to serve as their representative in the company's 57-year history. Her contract was rumored to be for $3 million dollars.
Source: Liya's Profile Wikipedia
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Teza’, the latest work of Ethiopian director Hailé Gerima
In today’s culture show, Hailé Gerima speaks cinema with Eve Jackson. Known for his independent, direct storytelling that's anything but Hollywood, the director makes films about Ethiopia's struggle. His best-known movie is the acclaimed ‘Sankofa’ which won a stack of international awards including the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film festival. His latest work is called ‘Teza’.
Watch the interview at
http://www.france24.com/en/20100428-haile-gerima-teza-ethiopian-film-director-jackson
Watch the interview at
http://www.france24.com/en/20100428-haile-gerima-teza-ethiopian-film-director-jackson
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: Cheapest and Most Unique Vacation Spot
Imagine a vacation that costs a fraction the price of most traditional vacation spots yet contains sights and experiences available nowhere else. This unique, yet non-traditional vacation location is Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, which is located in the horn of Africa.
Cuisine and Entertainment in Addis Ababa
As an urban city, you can expect all of the conveniences you are accustomed to in any American city. The city boasts an amazing variety of places at which you can sample both local and international cuisine. Fasika is a hot spot for anyone that wants to sample eating from a dazzling array of traditional Ethiopian dishes, whilst live entertainment featuring prominent local acts is provided. Moreover, for the cost conscious traveler, feel free to order the most expensive choices on the menu, a full meal for two including tip will set you back the equivalent of a mere twenty dollars.
Shopping in Ethiopia
Get ready for the shopping experience of your life! The Merkato is the world's largest outdoor market. You will be able to buy practically anything you could ever possibly want at this one location. Just remember that all prices are up for negotiation, so sharpen your bargaining skills before you come.
Other locations to shop at include the Friendship Supermarket, that is if you are looking for western style products. Three of the largest shopping centers are: Loyal Shopping center, Arat Kilo Shopping center (98 stores)and the Piassa Shopping center (67 stores)
Activities and Sightseeing Spots
Due to the length of the cities existence, there are many old and interesting buildings to visit in Addis Ababa. A particularly beautiful spot is the St. Georges Cathedral-Museum. The museum was built in 1975 to contain historical and ecclesiastical items. For a three-dollar fee, you can receive a guided tour that takes you through two separate levels highlighting Ethiopia's history.
Choices for the more active traveler are abundant. There are tennis courts available at the Ghion Hotel, swimming under the bluest skies imaginable at the downtown Hilton hotel. If the wish to have a gamble comes upon you, there is horse racing each weekend at the Addis Ababa Stadium on Ras Desta Damtew Ave. For evening entertainment, cinemas are located at the Cinema Ethiopia and theatre featuring traditional acts is regularly scheduled at the National Theatre.
Flights and Lodging Costs
The best choice for the cost conscious traveler is to book their hotel at the same time they book their flight. Great deals for weeklong stays can be found in the 800-900 dollars this includes staying at four-star hotels.
Cuisine and Entertainment in Addis Ababa
As an urban city, you can expect all of the conveniences you are accustomed to in any American city. The city boasts an amazing variety of places at which you can sample both local and international cuisine. Fasika is a hot spot for anyone that wants to sample eating from a dazzling array of traditional Ethiopian dishes, whilst live entertainment featuring prominent local acts is provided. Moreover, for the cost conscious traveler, feel free to order the most expensive choices on the menu, a full meal for two including tip will set you back the equivalent of a mere twenty dollars.
Shopping in Ethiopia
Get ready for the shopping experience of your life! The Merkato is the world's largest outdoor market. You will be able to buy practically anything you could ever possibly want at this one location. Just remember that all prices are up for negotiation, so sharpen your bargaining skills before you come.
Other locations to shop at include the Friendship Supermarket, that is if you are looking for western style products. Three of the largest shopping centers are: Loyal Shopping center, Arat Kilo Shopping center (98 stores)and the Piassa Shopping center (67 stores)
Activities and Sightseeing Spots
Due to the length of the cities existence, there are many old and interesting buildings to visit in Addis Ababa. A particularly beautiful spot is the St. Georges Cathedral-Museum. The museum was built in 1975 to contain historical and ecclesiastical items. For a three-dollar fee, you can receive a guided tour that takes you through two separate levels highlighting Ethiopia's history.
Choices for the more active traveler are abundant. There are tennis courts available at the Ghion Hotel, swimming under the bluest skies imaginable at the downtown Hilton hotel. If the wish to have a gamble comes upon you, there is horse racing each weekend at the Addis Ababa Stadium on Ras Desta Damtew Ave. For evening entertainment, cinemas are located at the Cinema Ethiopia and theatre featuring traditional acts is regularly scheduled at the National Theatre.
Flights and Lodging Costs
The best choice for the cost conscious traveler is to book their hotel at the same time they book their flight. Great deals for weeklong stays can be found in the 800-900 dollars this includes staying at four-star hotels.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Marcus Samuelsson speaks on Chicago restaurants and "Top Chef"
Last week chef Marcus Samuelsson's unveiled the new line of stoves he designed for BlueStar ranges. But before the big reveal at his C-House restaurant in the Affinia Hotel, the Swedish-Ethiopian transplant to New York dished about other stuff. Here it is as promised:
The Stew: How did you like doing "Top Chef Masters"?
Samuelsson: Fun, fun, it was great.
Are you under orders not to reveal anything?
I am.
Whom did you like working with best?
They were all really nice but I’ve known David Burke the longest so it was fun to be with him. When I came to America he was one of the chefs I most admired. I always thought he was an American chef with a unique spin on food.
I bet Wylie Dufresne [of wd~50] came up with some interesting stuff.
Yes, Wylie and I are the same age and we came up at the same time and I love him, he’s very talented. But there are some chefs that you’ve always looked up to. Like Charlie and Rick Bayless, who I always associated Chicago food with. And Tony of course.
Where do you eat in Chicago besides C-House?
Now that I’m working here I don’t have as much time. I was much more up on it before before C-House. It’s weird how that works. But I enjoy the Chicago community — the guests and the chefs — a lot. I love what Paul [Kahan] and those guys are doing. They’re very forward thinking and fun and there’s a sense of publicness to what they’re doing and it’s not so expensive so more people can experience it. And they each restaurant tell different stories from Avec, to Blackbird to Publican. And I love Arun.
Do you ever go for Ethiopian or Swedish food in Chicago?
Yes, for Ethiopian I go to that place on Broadway.
Ethiopian Diamond?
Yes, that’s the one. But for Swedish, I make my own. You know, meatballs and gravlax.
Friday, April 16, 2010
African Film Festival Fosters Home-Grown Development Cinema
Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, is set to host a film festival aimed at boosting Africa's self-image and identity. The festival's organizers hope it will spawn a community of African film makers specializing in using cinema for development.
The International Short Film Festival is the brainchild of award-winning Mauritanian film maker Abderrahmane Sissako and his wife, Ethiopian cinematographer Maji-da Abdi. The event will feature 100 films by and about Africa and Africans, each from five to 30 minutes long.
Sitting side by side in front of reporters, Sissako explained in French his vision of using cinema as a development tool, while Abdi translated to English.
"It is a continent about which a lot is said, but has very little opportunity to speak about itself. Africa does not have as much opportunity to tell its own stories. That is why I think images as a part of development is firstly 'cinema as a mirror of yourself'. Through a mirror one can correct oneself, one can doubt oneself. One can be proud of oneself as well," Sissako said.
Sissako and Abdi say African children growing up on a diet of Hollywood-style films may never see images that reflect their own world. They say Africa needs a home-grown film industry to raise its self-esteem and represent African ideals. "When hundreds of thousands of people rarely see their own picture on the big screens, that is where I talk of prejudice. A child can be proud to see that his father can be a pilot or a doctor. But when he never sees on his screens a representation of something that he can resemble him or his parents, so it poses questions even though he does not have them clearly stated in the head," they said.
Abdi, the festival's chief organizer, says film also has the ability to break down cultural barriers, and to allow people see their continent through African eyes.
"We are seen mostly on CNN and other news as sort of this poor victim, when there are many more aspects of people in each country that we need to show to ourselves and to each other. It is a pity that Ethiopians do not know about other African countries, have never heard their languages in a film or know the different cultures well. We have all seen, in a movie, the Eiffel Tower or the Statue of Liberty, but nothing about our own continent," he said.
The film festival will run from June 14 through 19.
Winner of the prize for best East African short film will win an all-expenses paid trip to France for 10 days of cinematography training.
The International Short Film Festival is the brainchild of award-winning Mauritanian film maker Abderrahmane Sissako and his wife, Ethiopian cinematographer Maji-da Abdi. The event will feature 100 films by and about Africa and Africans, each from five to 30 minutes long.
Sitting side by side in front of reporters, Sissako explained in French his vision of using cinema as a development tool, while Abdi translated to English.
"It is a continent about which a lot is said, but has very little opportunity to speak about itself. Africa does not have as much opportunity to tell its own stories. That is why I think images as a part of development is firstly 'cinema as a mirror of yourself'. Through a mirror one can correct oneself, one can doubt oneself. One can be proud of oneself as well," Sissako said.
Sissako and Abdi say African children growing up on a diet of Hollywood-style films may never see images that reflect their own world. They say Africa needs a home-grown film industry to raise its self-esteem and represent African ideals. "When hundreds of thousands of people rarely see their own picture on the big screens, that is where I talk of prejudice. A child can be proud to see that his father can be a pilot or a doctor. But when he never sees on his screens a representation of something that he can resemble him or his parents, so it poses questions even though he does not have them clearly stated in the head," they said.
Abdi, the festival's chief organizer, says film also has the ability to break down cultural barriers, and to allow people see their continent through African eyes.
"We are seen mostly on CNN and other news as sort of this poor victim, when there are many more aspects of people in each country that we need to show to ourselves and to each other. It is a pity that Ethiopians do not know about other African countries, have never heard their languages in a film or know the different cultures well. We have all seen, in a movie, the Eiffel Tower or the Statue of Liberty, but nothing about our own continent," he said.
The film festival will run from June 14 through 19.
Winner of the prize for best East African short film will win an all-expenses paid trip to France for 10 days of cinematography training.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Teza -- Film Review
Bottom Line: Ambitious, sprawling drama about Ethiopia that well overcomes its rough-hewn edges.
Few contemporary films burn with the passion and authenticity of "Teza," Haile Gerima's elaborate drama chronicling three decades in the life of an Ethiopian man anguished by his country's social and political crises. The Ethiopia-born director, responsible for such acclaimed works as "Ashes and Embers" (1982) and "Sankofa" (1993), has produced a challenging but rewarding effort that will be essential viewing for those interested in African themes. Currently playing at New York's Lincoln Plaza Cinema as part of a nationwide tour that recently included a two-month run in Washington, the film recently was the subject of a front-page article in the New York Times.
Complicated and occasionally off-putting in terms of structure and style, "Teza" begins in 1990 when Anberber (newcomer Aaron Arefe, delivering a powerful performance), a doctor, returns to his native village and is reunited with his elderly mother. Suffering from various mental and physical infirmities, including the loss of a leg, Anberber is dismayed to see that his country has been devastated by the oppressive Marxist regime that has come into power.
When tribal elders fear that the new arrival is cursed and begin a ritual to cure him, it cues a series of flashbacks depicting his leaving his country in 1974 to move to Germany and study medicine. There, he and his friends embrace socialism and work from afar to overthrow the dictatorial Emperor Haile Selassie. Returning to his homeland upon the rise of power of Haile Mariam Mengistu in the 1980s, he soon discovers that one form of repression has been replaced by another.
The film ultimately takes on more ideas than it can comfortably handle, resulting in a sprawling but never tedious tour throughout modern Ethiopian history, interspersed with meditations on such subjects as personal responsibility, racism and the relationship of the self-exiled to their native lands.
Handsomely shot despite an obviously low budget and considerable logistical difficulties, "Teza" is a valuable addition to the annals of African cinema.
Venue: Lincoln Plaza Cinema (New York) (Mypheduh Films)
Production: Negod-gwad, Pandora Film
Cast: Aaron Arefe, Abeye Tedla, Takelech Beyene, Teje Tesfahun, Nebiyu Baye, Mengistu Zelalem
Director-screenwriter: Haile Gerima
Producers: Haile Gerima, Karl Baumgartner
Director of photography: Mario Masini
Editors: Haile Gerima, Loren Hankin
Music: Vijay Ijer, Jorga Mesfin
Art directors: Patrick Dechesne, Alain-Pascal Housiaux
Costume designer: Wassine Hailu
No rating, 140 minutes
Few contemporary films burn with the passion and authenticity of "Teza," Haile Gerima's elaborate drama chronicling three decades in the life of an Ethiopian man anguished by his country's social and political crises. The Ethiopia-born director, responsible for such acclaimed works as "Ashes and Embers" (1982) and "Sankofa" (1993), has produced a challenging but rewarding effort that will be essential viewing for those interested in African themes. Currently playing at New York's Lincoln Plaza Cinema as part of a nationwide tour that recently included a two-month run in Washington, the film recently was the subject of a front-page article in the New York Times.
Complicated and occasionally off-putting in terms of structure and style, "Teza" begins in 1990 when Anberber (newcomer Aaron Arefe, delivering a powerful performance), a doctor, returns to his native village and is reunited with his elderly mother. Suffering from various mental and physical infirmities, including the loss of a leg, Anberber is dismayed to see that his country has been devastated by the oppressive Marxist regime that has come into power.
When tribal elders fear that the new arrival is cursed and begin a ritual to cure him, it cues a series of flashbacks depicting his leaving his country in 1974 to move to Germany and study medicine. There, he and his friends embrace socialism and work from afar to overthrow the dictatorial Emperor Haile Selassie. Returning to his homeland upon the rise of power of Haile Mariam Mengistu in the 1980s, he soon discovers that one form of repression has been replaced by another.
The film ultimately takes on more ideas than it can comfortably handle, resulting in a sprawling but never tedious tour throughout modern Ethiopian history, interspersed with meditations on such subjects as personal responsibility, racism and the relationship of the self-exiled to their native lands.
Handsomely shot despite an obviously low budget and considerable logistical difficulties, "Teza" is a valuable addition to the annals of African cinema.
Venue: Lincoln Plaza Cinema (New York) (Mypheduh Films)
Production: Negod-gwad, Pandora Film
Cast: Aaron Arefe, Abeye Tedla, Takelech Beyene, Teje Tesfahun, Nebiyu Baye, Mengistu Zelalem
Director-screenwriter: Haile Gerima
Producers: Haile Gerima, Karl Baumgartner
Director of photography: Mario Masini
Editors: Haile Gerima, Loren Hankin
Music: Vijay Ijer, Jorga Mesfin
Art directors: Patrick Dechesne, Alain-Pascal Housiaux
Costume designer: Wassine Hailu
No rating, 140 minutes
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