The Work of Three Ethiopian Cineastes
In the title of this blog post, I ask an offshoot of Sojourner Truth's famous question: Ain't I a Woman? Let me repeat it: Ain't I a Filmmaker? My focus is on what makes a filmmaker. You can judge a tree by its fruit. You can determine the merit of an artist by studying what he or she produces. By examining the qualities of true cinema, we will include to the table three contemporary Ethiopian filmmakers: Yemane Demissie, Salem Mekuria, and Haile Gerima. These are three examples of full-fledged filmmakers and Ethiopians living in the diaspora. The rhetorical question "Ain't I a Filmmaker?" is answered with a resounding yes.
Message and Medium
The three aforementioned Ethiopian filmmakers are marked by three components that make for great cinema: “critique, testimony and, most paradoxical of all, ubiety. ”
Artists question or critique freely and provide evidence of the senses or evidence of truth in an effort to establish a presence or create a sense of “thereness.” What is paradoxical about the quality of “thereness” is that often fine art excludes through select exhibition, thus, it is present despite it absence. Moreover, “thereness” refers to the state of spectatorship; of imagining one is somewhere by becoming wholly absorbed or seduced all-the-while remaining distanced from the image as a member of an audience.
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This again is presence despite absence. Furthermore, with the work of these Ethiopian filmmakers, the meaning of “thereness” proliferate into the Hegelian dialectic of being.[1] These Ethiopian filmmakers are “Ethiopians,” but what makes them or their work Ethiopian? The paper explores the politics of identity along with the intricacies of belonging and becoming.
[1] Ridener, Larry. “Nature of Dialectic.” Berthold-Bond. Hegel’s Grand Synthesis: A Study of Being. Thought, and History. New York: Harper, 1993, pp. 81-91. [1997] Baylor University. 6 May 2003. <http://www.2.pfeiffer.edu/~lridener/courses/HEGEL.HTML>
“There is no Ethiopian national cinema to speak of,” according to Salem Mekuria.
“There is no Ethiopian national cinema to speak of,” asserts Salem Mekuria.[1] Before interrogating the words and the work of the three selected Ethiopian filmmakers, let us begin with an outline of the advent of cinema to modern Ethiopia.
[1] Mekuria, Salem. Interview. 20 April 2003
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Please watch the video to discover how cinema started in Ethiopia. For the entire essay, please contact me at yerusalemwork@gmail.com. Thank you!
- Yeru
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