Ethiopia

Three hours outside of Addis Ababa, a bright 14-year-old girl is on her way home from school when men on horses swoop in and kidnap her. The brave Hirut grabs a rifle and tries to escape, but ends up shooting her would-be husband. In her village the practice of abduction into marriage is common and one of Ethiopia’s oldest traditions. Meaza Ashenafi, an empowered and tenacious young lawyer, arrives from the city to represent Hirut and argue that she acted in self defense. Meaza boldly embarks on a collision course between enforcing civil authority and abiding by customary law, risking the ongoing work of her women’s legal aid practice to save Hirut’s life.

A film By Zerihun Deneke

When an Ethiopian boy moves in with distant relatives he takes his pet sheep with him but the upcoming holidays spell danger for his beloved friend.

A mild-mannered man journeys across a post-apocalyptic landscape in search of answers regarding a derelict spaceship hovering in the sky.

The Ethiopian intellectual Anberber returns to his native country during the repressive totalitarian regime of Haile Mariam Mengistu and the recognition of his own displacement and powerlessness at the dissolution of his people's humanity and social values. After several years spent studying medicine in Germany, he finds the country of his youth replaced by turmoil. His dream of using his craft to improve the health of Ethiopians is squashed by a military junta that uses scientists for its own political ends. Seeking the comfort of his countryside home, Anberber finds no refuge from violence. The solace that the memories of his youth provide is quickly replaced by the competing forces of military and rebelling factions. Anberber needs to decide whether he wants to bear the strain or piece together a life from the fragments that lie around him.

Made in Ethiopia examines China’s increasing impact on Africa through the story of charismatic businesswoman Motto, who is tasked with expanding the biggest Chinese industrial zone in Ethiopia.

A Film By Ermias Tadesse

Kaleab and Jemal are two who are willing to endure any travail to reach America and what they deem as a promise of a better life, but is it? Along the way Kaleab meets Winta, who is from neighboring Eritrea and on a similar journey as Kaleab. Kaleab and Winta fall in love with each other as the group of Ethiopians and Eritreans travel an arduous and illegal path from East Africa through Libya, Italy, Mexico and finally to America, but their love for each other is tested thoroughly as the group meets up with violence, sickness and, ultimately, tragedy.

A film By Nigussu Mulugeta

The film follows the fate of two boys, one of whom hopes to become an Olympic runner and the other a photographer.

A film by Kirubel Seyum

Wawago new theater

The film takes the audience inside the head of a schizophrenic patient (Meba) in a mental hospital along with a number of characters with a variety of mental disorders.

The story of an outsider seducing Ethiopian women.

Afilm by Yeabsira Docho

A film By Yebayush Lij (Sami)

In this meditative film the everyday lives of poor Ethiopian peasants are shown using documentary as well as storytelling techniques, with its drama arising out of the timeless yet persistent issues of their lives.

Asalif and his mother defy Ethiopia’s omnipresent modern housing development culture, by continuing to live a life characterised by proximity to nature and rootedness in community. The boy counters the ruptures in his accustomed surroundings and the threat posed by the hyena that haunts his neighbourhood by reinventing himself as a hero: as Anbessa, the lion.

Zerihun sleeps with Mahlet, the daughter of the owner of the warehouse Gashe was renting for his carpentry business. Mahlet ends up getting pregnant and her father (Mekonen Leake's character) furious at what Zerihun had done, locks up the warehouse, and refuses to let anyone inside.

Starring Admasu Kebede as Aimro, and Rekik Teshome as Helina, the title characters in the film, the movie focuses on the young carpenter Aimro who has his heart broken by his long time girlfriend Emmy that left him for another man that promised to take her to America. Aimro decides that there are no women in town that are worth his love and respect. Aimro, heartbroken and sick with envy is bedridden with his overwhelming emotions, when his co-workers, who are also his best friends, decide to form a group called Yewendoch Guday (translated Guy's Affairs) in order to avenge all men that have been done wrong by women.

Sew Le Sew

1950’s local shop owner, Yemeni citizen Melike has been forced to leave Dessie. His love afire with the local chiefs daughter, become the Couse for his death. On the last moment, his young helper Tame ru has acquired a watch from the dead body. After decades Tameru learns the watch might worth a lot of money and had been in search for years. The old-fashioned Tameru refused to exchange or to give up his childhood memory. But this mild-manner will ruin his and his family peaceful life. Tamerus only son Yosef makes a desperate verdict in order to get pure justice, for what he couldn’t get legally. [filmoch]