CHANGING AFRICA: ETHIOPIA

Tropentheater, Amsterdam | friday 1 June | 16.30-18.30 hrs
Each film is followed by a discussion with the director moderated by Paul Faber*

Framing the Other

This short documentary addresses tourism and its complex relations with indigenous communities. It reveals the thoughts of a Mursi woman from Southern Ethiopia and those of a Dutch tourist as they prepare to meet each other. The Mursi in Ethiopia are undergoing a process of 'touristification', mainly because of the exotic physical appearance of the women with their large lip plates. While the tourists treat the Mursi as curiosities to be photographed, the Mursi in turn deal with the influx of the Other in their own particular way. The film thus captures an encounter that is both moving and disturbing.

Ilja Kok & Willem Timmers (The Netherlands) | Ethiopia, The Netherlands | 2011 | 25 min | English and Mursi spoken, English subtitles

Awards: Special mention, Go Short, 2012 International Short Film Festival Nijmegen

> www.esplorarelametropoli.it

The Well

The Borana herders live in the dry Oromia lowlands (South of Ethiopia). Each year, when the drought is coming, they walk for days on end to gather with their livestock around the 'singing' wells. This film follows their life during a whole dry season, showing a unique traditional water management system that allows to manage the little available water as the property and right of everyone, without any money being exchanged.

Riccardo Russo & Paolo Barberi (Italië) | Ethiopië | 2011 | 56 min | Oromo gesproken, Engels ondertiteld

Awards: 2nd Prize for Documentary and Journalistic films, 2011 Agrofilm Festival, Nitra, Slovakia; Special Prize Benedetto Senni for sustainable development and food sovereignty in Africa, 5° Terra di Tutti Film Festival, Bologna, Italia, 2011;
Special Award of the Festival Organization, 2011 Rome Docscient Festival, Italy; Best Film, Human Rights Award, III Festival Internacional Santa Coloma de Gramenet, Spain, 2011;
Prix du Film Sauvegarde de l'Environnent Ushuaia TV et Parc naturel régional du Vercors, 28ème Festival International Du Film Montagne d'Autrans, Nov, 2011; Honorary Mention, This Human World Film Festival, Wien, Austria, 2011


* Paul Faber is conservator Africa in the Royal Tropical Institute, Amsterdam.